Bison vs. Buffalo: What's the Difference between us ?

Husky, shaggy buffalo (Bison buffalo), the North American hoofed warm blooded creatures that, for some, individuals, encapsulate the American West, are frequently alluded to as wild ox.

Be that as it may, despite the fact that they are in a similar family assemble as Old World wild ox species — the Asian water bison (Bubalus bubalis) and the African cape bison (Syncerus caffer) — buffalo are not firmly identified with those species, influencing the normal name "to wild ox" deceiving.

At the point when the principal European pilgrims touched base in North America, upwards of 60 million buffalo possessed the landmass' meadows, as per the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). These early pilgrims likely observed similitudes between buffalo, the mainland's biggest land creature, and known wild ox species, the National Park Service (NPS) clarified on its site. The pioneers alluded to the huge mammoths as "buffalo" and "wild ox" conversely, and the name "bison," however deductively incorrect, stuck.

The mistake is somewhat understandable. Both bison and buffalo belong to the Bovidae family, which consists of more than 100 species of hoofed mammals called ungulates, including buffalo, bison, antelopes, gazelles, cattle, sheep and goats. The American bison species is found only in North America, and its closest relative, the European bison (Bison bonasus), can be found in Belarus, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russian Federation, Slovakia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan, where about 1,800 free-ranging individual bison are currently estimated to roam, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Bison likely first arrived in North America around 400,000 years ago, traveling across an ancient land bridge from Asia, according to the Department of the Interior (DOI).

But even though bison and buffalo are similarly large, cattle-like animals, there are striking physical differences that distinguish them.

The American bison — which can weigh up to 2,000 lbs. (900 kilograms) — sports an unusually massive head and a considerable shoulder hump, both of which are covered with thick, woolly fur. The enormous, heavy muscles in the hump allow bison to use their heads as powerful snowplows in the winter, pushing aside masses of snow by swinging their heads from side to side, the NPS reported.

Bison's heads can also be used as battering rams, to drive off predators or to compete for females, according to the NPS.

By comparison, the buffalo of Africa and Asia have no hump whatsoever, and their skulls are smaller than those of bison. But while they may come up short on head size, both buffalo species more than make up for that in the breadth of their impressive horns.

Asian buffalo have large, crescent-shaped horns that curve upward and can span over 6 feet (2 meters) in length, according to the Encyclopedia of Life(EOL). Wild males can weigh over 2,600 lbs. (1,200 kg), though domesticated Asian buffalo, which are widespread across Asia, typically weigh about half as much as that — around 1,200 lbs. (550 kg), EOL explained.

African cape buffalo are native to the savannas and grasslands of southern, western, eastern and central Africa, and the animals usually congregate near water, according to the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF). Males are equipped with a head shield from which the horns sprout, sweeping downward before curling back up again, and can weigh as much as 1,500 lbs. (680 kg), the AWF reported.

Currently, about 10,000 wild bison still roam 12 states in North America, where the animals forage for an average of 9 to 12 hours each day for weeds, grasses and leafy plants, according to the DOI.