Bison (Buffalo: Bison bison)

This bull Bison is silhouetted against a glowing prairie sunset.

Some facts: The proper name for the "buffalo" is "bison". The term "buffalo" came from the French word "boeuf", which means "beef".

Like cattle, bison are ruminants, which means that they have four stomachs and digest grass by chewing it briefly, swallowing it, and forming it into a "cud" which is coughed up and re-chewed. Like cattle, bison have horns that are never shed and grow in size each year.

Bison males are called "bulls", the females are "cows" and the young are called "calves".

Bison bulls average six feet tall at the shoulder and weigh an average of 2,000 pounds. The cows are smaller, averaging five feet tall at the shoulder and weighing around 1,000 pounds.