Bison or Buffalo - which is what?

Waterton National Park - Buffalo Paddock - Photographed by me this morning (June 29, 2025).

You've heard the term buffalo and bison used somewhat interchangeably.  Or maybe you have heard that buffalo is singular and bison plural.  Of course, then there is the idea that bison is both singular and plural (like moose or sheep) and refers to North American Bovidea while buffalo is for Old World ones.  Which is it?

Well, it turns out that the last of the three possibilities is the correct one.  Bison are North American bovids and are not naturally occurring elsewhere in the world.  Buffalo are bovids found in Asia and Africa and include water buffalo, cape buffalo, swamp buffalo, and an impressive number of others.  Bison include two living species, the plains bison (above) and the wood bison.  There are other members of the bison family recorded in paleontology, such as the ancient bison, which is substantially bigger than any living member.

We visited the buffalo paddock this morning at Waterton National Park.  There were at least 20 or so bison present, all belonging to the plains variant.  There were calves and juveniles, but also a number of large adults, including the impressive males, which may weigh over a ton and 6 feet high at the shoulder.  We were fortunate in visiting relatively early under sunny conditions.  The bison were nicely lit up by a low sun and allowed me to shoot at very good exposure settings.

Not only did we see bison this morning, we also saw two wild badgers.  I got photos of them as well and will be doing a post on badgers shortly. That was actually more exciting than seeing the "buffalo".  I understand that wolverines are also present in the area.  It would be cool to see them, just not up too closely.

Thanks for reading.

Eric Svendsen     www.ericspix.com