The plains bison is one of two subspecies/ecotypes of the American bison, the other being the wood bison. A natural population of plains bison survives in Yellowstone National Park and multiple smaller reintroduced herds of bison in many places in the United States as well as southern portions of the Canadian Prairies.
Plains bison
Herd of plains bison of various ages resting in Elk Island Park, Alberta
American bison skeleton (Museum of Osteology)
The American bison, also called the American buffalo or simply buffalo, is a species of bison native to North America. It is one of two extant species of bison, alongside the European bison. Its historical range circa 9000 BC is described as the great bison belt, a tract of rich grassland from Alaska to the Gulf of Mexico, east to the Atlantic Seaboard, as far north as New York, south to Georgia, and according to some sources, further south to northern Florida, with sightings in North Carolina near Buffalo Ford on the Catawba River as late as 1750.
Image: American bison k 5680 1
Image: Waldbison Bison bison athabascae Tierpark Hellabrunn 13
Adult male (hindmost) and adult female (foremost), in Yellowstone National Park
Male plains bison in the Wichita Mountains of Oklahoma