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50 free Bison trivia questions with answers — science & nature quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Bison went from sixty million animals to a few hundred in a single century, and the survivors now roam national parks, tribal lands and ranches across three countries. These bison trivia questions cover the American buffalo's size and speed, its behavior, the bottleneck and recovery, the cattle-gene problem, the European wisent, and the animal's place on coins, flags and state seals. Every answer is sourced, with a short explanation so you learn something even when you miss.
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Q 01The American bison's only living relative in its genus, the wisent, is native to which continent?
Europe
The wisent is the heaviest wild land animal on its home continent, just as the American bison is on its own.
Q 02In which year did the bison become the national mammal of the United States?
2016
Kansas, Oklahoma and Wyoming had already adopted it as their state mammal.
Q 03Besides the plains bison, what is the other recognised American subspecies?
Wood
It is the larger of the two, with a taller, squarer hump, and accounts for most animals over 1,000 kg at Elk Island National Park.
Q 04Among wild bovids, the wood bison is outsized only by which Asian animal?
Gaur
The bison is still the heaviest land animal and heaviest herbivore in North America.
Q 05How much did the heaviest wild plains bison bull ever recorded weigh?
2,800 lb
Some bulls have been estimated at 3,000 lb, and a farmed semi-domestic animal reached 3,801 lb.
Q 06Roughly how many bison lived in North America in the late 18th century?
60 million
Their historic range, the 'great bison belt', ran from Alaska to the Gulf of Mexico and east almost to the Atlantic.
Q 07By 1889, the bison population had fallen to roughly how many animals?
541
Commercial hunting, deliberate slaughter to undermine Plains tribes, and cattle diseases all contributed to the collapse.
Q 08According to nuclear DNA, which animals are the bison's closest living relatives?
Yaks
The finding nests bison inside the genus Bos, which is why some taxonomists now list them as Bos bison.
Q 09Bison reached North America from Asia by crossing what?
The Bering land bridge
They arrived only 195,000 to 135,000 years ago and diversified so fast that their arrival defines a geological faunal stage.
Q 10American buffalo descend from which extinct Pleistocene species?
Steppe bison
Today's wood bison are the living animals most similar to it, which is why they were chosen for rewilding in Siberia.
Q 11What name is given to a bison–cattle hybrid?
Beefalo
Ranchers tried the cross during the 1880s bottleneck, found no hybrid vigor, and the National Bison Association now bans it.
Q 12The Sioux regard the birth of a calf of which color as a sacred event?
White
Such a birth is seen as the return of White Buffalo Calf Woman, who brought the Seven Sacred Rites.
Q 13How long is a bison's gestation?
285 days
A single calf is born and nurses until the next arrives, or for about 18 months if the cow is not pregnant again.
Q 14What is a bison's typical life expectancy in the wild?
Q 21In which months do bison mate?
August and September
Dominant bulls 'tend' a cow by shadowing her and blocking her view of rivals, and bellow back at any challenger.
Q 22Which predator regularly preys on weakened bison, especially in late winter?
Wolves
Calves have five known escape tactics, including running to the nearest bull or wading into a lake or river.
Q 23How does the US government officially classify the American buffalo?
A type of cattle
The classification lets private herds be managed like livestock, and bison can interbreed with domestic cattle.
15 years
In captivity they can reach 25, and hunted northern herds have produced cows that lived that long.
Q 15How fast can a bison run?
40–45 mph
They look lethargic but easily outrun people, and gunshots do not startle them.
Q 16From 1980 to 1999, how did bison injuries to Yellowstone visitors compare with bear injuries?
More than three times as many
Bison charged and injured 79 people over those two decades; bears injured 24.
Q 17Roughly how high can an agitated bison jump vertically?
6 ft
That agility is why the most reliable bison fencing uses 20-foot steel I-beams sunk into concrete.
Q 18What is the shallow depression a bison rolls in called?
A wallow
Rolling in dust or mud helps with shedding, biting insects and ticks, and the depressions boost prairie plant diversity.
Q 19Bison rub their horns on cedar and pine trees, a behavior thought to be linked to what?
Repelling insects
The 'horning' peaks in autumn when insects are most numerous, and the aromatic trees release a scent that deters them.
Q 20What color is a newborn bison calf?
Reddish-brown
Calves stay noticeably lighter than adults for their first two months.
Q 24Of the six founding herds that survived the bottleneck, one was kept by which institution?
The Bronx Zoo
The other five were private ranch herds; all modern plains bison descend from an effective population of just 30 to 50 animals.
Q 25How many wild bison survived the bottleneck inside Yellowstone National Park?
25
Twenty-one animals from outside herds were added in 1902, and those founders supply 60 to 70 per cent of the herd's genes today.
Q 26About how many bison were in the Yellowstone herd in summer 2022?
5,900
It is one of the few public herds with no detectable domestic cattle genes.
Q 27Which rancher founded the Texas State Bison Herd in the 1880s with five wild-caught calves?
Charles Goodnight
Every animal in the herd still descends from those five calves, which left it so inbred that models once gave it a 99% chance of dying out.
Q 28Custer State Park, home to about 1,500 bison, is in which state?
South Dakota
It is one of the largest publicly held herds in the world, though some question its genetic purity.
Q 29The Henry Mountains herd, one of the few with no cattle genes, roams in which state?
Utah
It was started with animals from Yellowstone and grazes mountain valleys up to 10,000 feet.
Q 30Elk Island and Wood Buffalo national parks, both with important herds, are in which province?
Alberta
Wood bison from Elk Island were shipped to Yakutia in Russia from 2006 as part of a Pleistocene rewilding project.