Tag bison

What is the difference between the American Bison and the European Bison?

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What is the difference between the American Bison (Bison bison) and the European Bison (Bison bonasus)? 

The American Bison and the European Bison are large ungulate (hoofed) mammals in the bovine (cattle) family.

The American Bison and the European Bison are artiodactyl, because they have cloven (split) hooves.

The American Bison has longer hair on its neck, head, and forequarters than the European Bison.

The American Bison has less hair on its tail than the European Bison.

The American Bison has shorter horns and tail than the European Bison. 

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European Bison

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The European Bison (Bison bonasus) is an artiodactyl ungulate (split, cloven hoofed) mammal in the bovine (cattle) family. It is a bisonid. It is also known as the Wisent and the European Wood Bison. 

The European Bison has a stocky body with a massive head. It is broad and muscular. It has a shaggy dark-brown coat of fur. Both the male and female have horns that point forward, with a blunted, rounded tip. 

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American Wood Bison

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The American Wood Bison (Bison bison athabascae) is an ungulate (hoofed) mammal in the bovine (cattle) family. It is a bisonid. It is an artiodactyl, because it is cloven (split) hooved. It is also known as the American Buffalo, and is closely related to the European Bison, which is also called the European Wisent.

The American Wood Bison has a shaggy dark-brown coat of fur with a massive head. It is broad and muscular. Both the male and female have short, curved horns.

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Gaur

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The Gaur (Bos gaurus) is a large bovine ungulate (hoofed) mammal. It is also known as the Indian Bison.  

The Gaur is a species of wild cattle with short, narrow, pointed, black-tipped horns and a prominent ridge on its back. It has large ears. It has short, glossy, dark-brown fur, which becomes almost black as it ages. Its head is often ashy-grey and its nose is whitish. It does not have a distinct dewlap (loose skin under its chin) like other bovines have. The female is lighter brown with thinner horns. 

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Caucasian Wisent (Bison)

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The Caucasian Wisent (Bison bonasus caucasicus) is a subspecies of the European Bison that lived in the Caucasus Mountains. Before its extinction, the last male Caucasian Wisent bred with cows from the lowland species of the European Bison (Bison bonasus bonasus).

In the 1940s and in 1959, a group of Caucasian Wisent and American Bison (Bison bison) hybrids were released into the Caucasian region, which bred with the Caucasian lowland hybrid species to form a single group. In 2000, zoologists categorized them as a new mountain species, called Bison bonasus montanus. However, the new category has not been confirmed.  

The hybrid Caucasian Wisent is an ungulate mammal of the bovine family. It is an artiodactyl, because it is cloven hooved.

The hybrid Caucasian Wisent is broad and muscular, with a brown coat of fur, and a massive head with horns.

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Yak

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The Domestic Yak (Bos grunniens) and the Wild Yak (Bos mutus) are large, long-haired, ungulate mammals in the Bovidae family of bovines, similar to cattle and bison. It is a bovid. The species, Bos grunniens, means grunting ox, and the species, Bos mutus, means mute (silent) ox. The Yak, like a cow, is an ungulate because it has cloven hooves.

The Wild Yak is black or dark brown, whereas the Domestic Yak can be rust-brown, grey, and cream. The Yak has small ears and a wide forehead, with smooth dark-coloured horns. It has a short neck with humped shoulders. The male, called a bull, has horns that extend from the sides of its head and curve forward. The female, called a cow, has smaller horns that are more upright. The tail is long and looks like a horse’s tail (long and hairy) instead of a cow’s tail (with a tuft of hair at the end).

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