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.

They are typical artiodactyl (cloven hooved) ungulates, and are similar in appearance to other bovines such as cattle and true buffalo.

[9] American bison are known for living in the Great Plains, but formerly had a much larger range, including much of the eastern United States and parts of Mexico.

[17] The bovine tribe (Bovini) split about 5 to 10 million years ago into the buffalos (Bubalus and Syncerus) and a group leading to bison and taurine cattle.

[19][20][21] Bison are widely believed to have evolved from a lineage belonging to the extinct genus Leptobos during the Late Pliocene to Early Pleistocene in Asia.

The oldest remains of Eobison in Europe are those Bison georgicus found in Dmanisi, Georgia, dated to around 1.76 Ma.

Generally, male domestic bulls were crossed with bison cows, producing offspring of which only the females were fertile.

Wisent-American bison hybrids were briefly experimented with in Germany (and found to be fully fertile) and a herd of such animals is maintained in Russia.

In the United States, many ranchers are now using DNA testing to cull the residual cattle genetics from their bison herds.

The proportion of cattle DNA that has been measured in introgressed individuals and bison herds today is typically quite low, ranging from 0.56 to 1.8%.

In 2015, a purebred herd of 350 individuals was identified on public lands in the Henry Mountains of southern Utah via genetic testing of mitochondrial and nuclear DNA.

[31] This study, published in 2015, also showed the Henry Mountains bison herd to be free of brucellosis, a bacterial disease that was imported with non-native domestic cattle to North America.

[37] Their most obvious weapons are the horns borne by both males and females, but their massive heads can be used as battering rams, effectively using the momentum produced by what is a typical weight of 900 to 1,200 kilograms (2,000 to 2,700 lb) moving at 50 km/h (30 mph).

[43] In 2013, Montana legislative measures concerning the bison were proposed and passed, but opposed by Native American tribes as they impinged on sovereign tribal rights.

[45] Protein concentrations of the plants they eat tend to be highest in the spring and decline thereafter, reaching their lowest in the winter.

[45] In Yellowstone National Park, bison browsed willows and cottonwoods, not only in the winter when few other plants are available, but also in the summer.

[52] Cows produce calves annually as long as their nutrition is sufficient, but not after years when weight gain is low.

[62] Bison was a significant resource for indigenous peoples of North America for food and raw materials until near extinction in the late 19th century.

[63] Native Americans highly valued their relationship with the bison and saw them as sacred, treating them respectfully to ensure their abundance and longevity.

In his biography, Lakota teacher and elder John Fire Lame Deer describes the relationship as such:[64] The buffalo gave us everything we needed.

Colonists slaughtered an estimated 50 million bison during the 19th century, although the causes of decline and the numbers killed are disputed and debated.

[65][66] Railroads were advertising "hunting by rail", where trains encountered large herds alongside or crossing the tracks.

Men aboard fired from the train's roof or windows, leaving countless animals to rot where they died.

[67] This overhunting was in part motivated by the U.S. government's desire to limit the range and power of indigenous plains Indians whose diets and cultures depended on the buffalo herds.

[70] Repopulation attempts via enforced protection of government herds and extensive ranching began in 1910 and have continued (with excellent success) to the present day, with some caveats.

The earliest plausible accounts of captive bison are those of the zoo at Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital, which held an animal the Spaniards called "the Mexican bull".

Gomara, having never visited the Americas himself, likely misinterpreted early ethnographic accounts as the more familiar pastoralist relationship of the Old World.

[82] In the 1990s, Turner found limited success with restaurants for high-quality cuts of meat, which include bison steaks and tenderloin.

[83] This created a marketing problem for commercial farming because the majority of usable meat, about 400 pounds for each bison, is suitable for these products.

[83] In 2003, the United States Department of Agriculture purchased $10 million worth of frozen overstock to save the industry, which would later recover through better use of consumer marketing.