BISON
A bison (pl.: bison) is a large bovine in the genus Bison (from Greek, meaning 'wild ox') within the tribe Bovini. Two extant and numerous extinct species are recognised.
Of the two surviving species, the American bison, B. bison, found only in North America, is the more numerous. Although colloquially referred to as a buffalo in the United States and Canada, it is more closely related to yaks and cattle than to the true buffalo. The North American species is composed of two subspecies, the Plains bison, B. b. bison, and the generally more northern wood bison, B. b. athabascae. A third subspecies, the eastern bison (B. b. pennsylvanicus) is no longer considered a valid taxon, being a junior synonym of B. b. bison. Historical references to "woods bison" or "wood bison" from the Eastern United States refer to this synonym animal (and to their eastern woodland habitat), not to B. b. athabascae, which was not found in the region. Its European kind B. bonasus or wisent —also 'zubr' or colloquially 'European buffalo'— is found in Europe and the Caucasus, reintroduced after being extinct in the wild.
While bison species have been traditionally classified in their own genus, modern genetics indicates that they are nested within the genus Bos, which includes, among others, cattle, yaks and gaur, being most closely related to yaks.
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