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Animal Age

How old does a American bison get? (age expectancy)

What is the maximal age a American bison reaches?

An adult American bison (Bison bison) usually gets as old as 33 years.

American bisons are around 283 days in the womb of their mother. When born, they weight 20 kg (44.09 lbs) and measure 6.27 meter (20′ 7″). As a member of the Bovidae family (genus: Bison), a American bison caries out around 1 little ones per pregnancy, which happens around 1 times a year. Fully grown, they reach a bodylength of 2.85 meter (9′ 5″).

As a reference: Usually, humans get as old as 100 years, with the average being around 75 years. After being carried in the belly of their mother for 280 days (40 weeks), they grow to an average size of 1.65m (5′ 5″) and weight in at 62 kg (137 lbs), which is obviously highly individual.

A American bison gets as old as 33 years

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

Not really brothers and sisters, but from the same biological family (Bovidae):

Animals that reach the same age as American bison

With an average age of 33 years, American bison are in good companionship of the following animals:

Animals with the same number of babies American bison

The same number of babies at once (1) are born by:

Weighting as much as American bison

A fully grown American bison reaches around 622.29 kg (1371.91 lbs). So do these animals:

  • Giant eland weighting 644.51 kilos (1420.9 lbs) on average
  • African buffalo weighting 592.83 kilos (1306.96 lbs) on average
  • Short-finned pilot whale weighting 726 kilos (1600.55 lbs) on average
  • Bactrian camel weighting 550.76 kilos (1214.22 lbs) on average
  • Domestic yak weighting 500 kilos (1102.31 lbs) on average
  • Banteng weighting 631.49 kilos (1392.2 lbs) on average
  • Moose weighting 541.46 kilos (1193.71 lbs) on average
  • Cattle weighting 615.82 kilos (1357.65 lbs) on average
  • European bison weighting 674.44 kilos (1486.88 lbs) on average
  • Common eland weighting 561.8 kilos (1238.56 lbs) on average

Animals as big as a American bison

Those animals grow as big as a American bison: