I took advantage of today’s fine weather to visit my local bison. You may think of bison as western animals, but they were first seen by European settlers in what is now downtown Washington DC and once occupied most of North America.

Bison, Bos bison, were the major herbivores of the Bluegrass prior to European settlement. The Bluegrass consisted of woodland pastures that exist because of the bison. Native American settlements, such as the Shawnee village Eskippakithiki, were around the edges of the Bluegrass where topographic features like knobs and rivers provided protection from the bison.

Today, a few Bluegrass farms maintain bison herds, mostly hybrids of bison and cattle (Bos taurus x bison). The owners of the farm I visited believe their bison are pure. I took these pictures in April when the trees were just leafing out and flowering.

Note: Many sources still list this species as Bison bison, but the genetic evidence supports the original assignment of the species to the genus Bos, hence Bos bison. Wisent, the European bison, is Bos bonasus.