Animal Facts
Bison history continued
Bison today
There may be about 300,000 bison today, living on public land and in privately owned herds. The Yellowstone National Park herd has about 3,000 to 3500 bison.
Today bison are mostly raised for meat and hides (skins), and they have also been bred with cattle to produce the beefalo.
Hunting of wild bison is legal in some states, and not in others.
Herds roam freely in Yellowstone National Park, Henry Mountains in Utah, Wind Cave National Park in South Dakota and on Elk Island, Alberta, in Canada.
Bison symbols (designs)
The bison is the state mammal in Kansas, Oklahoma and Wyoming, and Wyoming has a bison on its state flag.
In Canada the bison is the official animal of the province of Manitoba and the animal is on its flag. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police has a bison on their coat of arms.
Many sports teams have bison mascots including North Dakota State University. Several coins have a bison on them including the Kansas state quarter and the North Dakota state quarter.