page_title: Bison
section_title: Predators
hierarchical_section_title: Bison / Predators
caption_attribution_description: English: Wolves hunting bison in Yellowstone National Park
context_page_description: Bison are large, even-toed ungulates in the genus Bison within the subfamily Bovinae.
  Two extant and six extinct species are recognised. Of the six extinct species, five became extinct in the Quaternary extinction event. Bison palaeosinensis evolved in the Early Pleistocene in South Asia, and was the evolutionary ancestor of B. priscus, which was the ancestor of all other Bison species. From 2 million years ago to 6,000 BC, steppe bison ranged across the mammoth steppe, inhabiting Europe and northern Asia with B. schoetensacki, and North America with B. antiquus, B. latifrons, and B. occidentalis. The last species to go extinct, B. occidentalis, was succeeded at 3,000 BC by B. bison.
  Of the two surviving species, the American bison, B. bison, found only in North America, is the more numerous. Although commonly known as a buffalo in the United States and Canada, it is only distantly related to the true buffalo. The North American species is composed of two subspecies, the Plains bison, B. b. bison, and the wood bison, B. b. athabascae, which is the namesake of Wood Buffalo National Park in Canada.
context_section_description: Owing to their size, bison have few predators. Five notable exceptions are humans, grey wolves, cougars, brown bears, and coyotes. The grey wolf generally takes down a bison while in a pack, but cases of a single wolf killing bison have been reported. Brown bears also consume bison, often by driving off the pack and consuming the wolves' kill. Brown bears and coyotes also prey on bison calves. Historically and prehistorically, lions, tigers, the dire wolf, Smilodon, Homotherium, cave hyenas and Homo sp. had posed threats to bison.
caption: Wolves hunting bison
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