It is hard to guess what a American bison weights. But we have the answer:
An adult American bison (Bison bison) on average weights 622.29 kg (1371.91 lbs).
The American bison is from the family Bovidae (genus: Bison). It is usually born with about 20 kg (44.09 lbs). They can live for up to 33 years. When reaching adult age, they grow up to 2.85 meter (9′ 5″). On average, American bisons can have babies 1 times per year with a litter size of 1.
As a reference: An average human weights in at 62 kg (137 lbs) and reaches an average size of 1.65m (5′ 5″). Humans spend 280 days (40 weeks) in the womb of their mother and reach around 75 years of age.
The American bison or simply bison (Bison bison), also commonly known as the American buffalo or simply buffalo, is an American species of bison that once roamed North America in vast herds. Its historical range, by 9000 BCE, is described as the great bison belt, a tract of rich grassland that ran from Alaska to the Gulf of Mexico, east to the Atlantic Seaboard (nearly to the Atlantic tidewater in some areas) as far north as New York and south to Georgia and, according to some sources, down to Florida, with sightings in North Carolina near Buffalo Ford on the Catawba River as late as 1750. It nearly became extinct by a combination of commercial hunting and slaughter in the 19th century and introduction of bovine diseases from domestic cattle. With a population in excess of 60 million in the late 18th century, the species was down to 541 animals by 1889. Recovery efforts expanded in the mid-20th century, with a resurgence to roughly 31,000 animals today, largely restricted to a few national parks and reserves. Through multiple reintroductions, the species is now also freely roaming wild in some regions in Yakutia as well as Mexico.Two subspecies or ecotypes have been described: the plains bison (B. b. bison), smaller in size and with a more rounded hump, and the wood bison (B. b. athabascae)—the larger of the two and having a taller, square hump. Furthermore, the plains bison has been suggested to consist of a northern plains (B. b. montanae) and a southern plains (B. b. bison) subspecies, bringing the total to three. However, this is generally not supported. The wood bison is one of the largest wild species of bovid in the world, surpassed by only the Asian gaur and wild yak. Among extant land animals in North America, the bison is the heaviest and the longest, and the second tallest after the moose.Spanning back many centuries, Native American tribes have had cultural and spiritual connections to the American bison. It is the national mammal of the United States of America.
Animals of the same family as a American bison
We found other animals of the Bovidae family:
- Nilgai bringing 181.63 kilos (400.43 lbs) to the scale
- Domestic yak bringing 500 kilos (1102.31 lbs) to the scale
- Sable antelope bringing 235.2 kilos (518.53 lbs) to the scale
- Addax bringing 95.39 kilos (210.3 lbs) to the scale
- Nile lechwe bringing 85.5 kilos (188.5 lbs) to the scale
- Gayal bringing 800.07 kilos (1763.85 lbs) to the scale
- Puku bringing 71.23 kilos (157.04 lbs) to the scale
- Bay duiker bringing 20 kilos (44.09 lbs) to the scale
- Hirola bringing 78.6 kilos (173.28 lbs) to the scale
- Soemmerring’s gazelle bringing 41 kilos (90.39 lbs) to the scale
Animals with the same weight as a American bison
As a comparison, here are some other animals that weight as much as the Bison bison:
- Bactrian camel with a weight of 550.76 kilos (1214.22 lbs)
- African buffalo with a weight of 592.83 kilos (1306.96 lbs)
- Cattle with a weight of 615.82 kilos (1357.65 lbs)
- European bison with a weight of 674.44 kilos (1486.88 lbs)
- Banteng with a weight of 631.49 kilos (1392.2 lbs)
- Domestic yak with a weight of 500 kilos (1102.31 lbs)
- Common eland with a weight of 561.8 kilos (1238.56 lbs)
- Moose with a weight of 541.46 kilos (1193.71 lbs)
- Short-finned pilot whale with a weight of 726 kilos (1600.55 lbs)
- Giant eland with a weight of 644.51 kilos (1420.9 lbs)
Animals with the same size as a American bison
Not that size really matters, but it makes things comparable. So here are a couple of animals that are as big as American bison:
- Common eland with a size of 2.66 meter (8′ 9″)
- Leopard seal with a size of 3.05 meter (10′ 0″)
- Short-beaked common dolphin with a size of 2.44 meter (8′ 1″)
- Black rhinoceros with a size of 2.85 meter (9′ 5″)
- Mediterranean monk seal with a size of 2.6 meter (8′ 7″)
- Atlantic white-sided dolphin with a size of 2.29 meter (7′ 6″)
- Steller sea lion with a size of 2.7 meter (8′ 11″)
- Bearded seal with a size of 2.3 meter (7′ 7″)
- Dugong with a size of 2.55 meter (8′ 5″)
- Weddell seal with a size of 2.55 meter (8′ 5″)
Animals with the same litter size as a American bison
Here is a list of animals that have the same number of babies per litter (1) as a American bison:
- Unstriped ground squirrel
- Hoffmann’s rat
- Giant panda
- Lesser Asiatic yellow bat
- South American sea lion
- Markhor
- Mountain paca
- Insular horseshoe bat
- New Zealand sea lion
- Pel’s pouched bat
Animals with the same life expectancy as a American bison
Completely different animals, but becoming as old as a American bison:
- Banteng with an average maximal age of 26.5 years
- Amazonian manatee with an average maximal age of 30 years
- Sooty mangabey with an average maximal age of 26.75 years
- Black-and-white ruffed lemur with an average maximal age of 32 years
- Daubenton’s bat with an average maximal age of 28 years
- Rodrigues flying fox with an average maximal age of 30 years
- Hooded seal with an average maximal age of 35 years
- Brown long-eared bat with an average maximal age of 30 years
- Western long-beaked echidna with an average maximal age of 31 years
- Angolan talapoin with an average maximal age of 30.83 years