They have horns similar to domestic cattle. A male bison, or bull, can weigh more than 2,000 pounds, grow almost 12 feet long and stands nearly 6 feet tall at the top of its shoulder hump. Females, or cows, are smaller and weigh about 900 pounds when grown. A newborn bison is called a calf. Bison calves are yellowish-red and are normally born in the spring.
Bison are social animals and live in herds.
They help defend each other from predators. Bison are famous for traveling in large herds across the plains in a stampede. Bison herds once ranged from the Appalachian Mountains in the East to the Rocky Mountains in the West. By the late 1800s, only about 500 bison remained in America. Market demands had reduced their numbers from millions.