American bison
Bison bison
- Size
- Up to 1.9m at the shoulder, and a tonne in weight
- Look for it
- All year round
- Where
- Grasslands of the United States and Canada
A massive, dark-brown wild ox with a huge shaggy head, a hump and short curved horns.
The bison that follows you
This page is the open grassland of North America. Move your pointer across the prairie and your animal will plod, scurry, dash or flutter after you. Choose a different animal at the bottom, and tap the notes to open them.
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01 · SizeThe biggest land animal in the Americas
A bull can weigh a tonne, as much as a small car.
02 · SpeedFaster than it looks
A bison can run at 35 miles an hour and jump a fence nearly two metres high.
03 · SnowA snow plough
In winter it swings its huge head from side to side to sweep snow off the grass.
04 · TailWatch the tail
A tail hanging down means a calm bison. A tail held straight up means it may charge.
05 · DustDust baths
Bison roll in dusty hollows called wallows, to get rid of flies and loose fur.
06 · BackNearly lost
Hunting cut them from tens of millions to a few hundred. Protection has brought them back to about half a million.
Meet them all
Who's who on the plains
Black-tailed prairie dog
Cynomys ludovicianus
- Size
- About 35 to 40cm long
- Look for it
- March to October
- Where
- Short-grass prairie from Canada to Mexico
A plump, sandy ground squirrel with a short black-tipped tail, living in huge underground towns.
Prairie rattlesnake
Crotalus viridis
- Size
- About 1m long
- Look for it
- April to October
- Where
- Plains and dry hills of the western United States and Canada
A thick, sandy-brown snake with dark blotches down its back and a rattle on the end of its tail.
Greater roadrunner
Geococcyx californianus
- Size
- About 55cm long, half of it tail
- Look for it
- All year round
- Where
- Deserts and dry scrub of the south-western United States and Mexico
A long-legged, streaky brown bird with a shaggy crest and a very long tail. It would rather run than fly.
Coyote
Canis latrans
- Size
- About 60cm at the shoulder
- Look for it
- All year round
- Where
- Almost all of North America, from desert to city
A slim, grey-brown wild dog, smaller than a wolf, with big ears, a narrow muzzle and a bushy tail.
Monarch butterfly
Danaus plexippus
- Size
- Wingspan about 10cm
- Look for it
- May to October
- Where
- Across the United States and southern Canada, wintering in Mexico
A big orange butterfly with black veins and a black border dotted with white.
Through the year
When to look for them
The green months are when each one is easiest to see. Snakes and prairie dogs stay below ground in the coldest months, and the monarchs fly south. The animal following you is shown in red.
Bison
Prairie dog
Rattlesnake
Roadrunner
Coyote
Monarch butterfly
Good to know
Six things about the plains
Why no trees?
There is too little rain for forest, and fire and grazing keep young trees down.
Most of it is underground
Prairie grasses have roots several metres deep, which is how they survive drought, fire and being eaten.
Sixty million bison
There may once have been 60 million bison. By 1890, fewer than a thousand were left.
Underground towns
Prairie dog burrows give homes to owls, snakes, ferrets and many others.
Tornado country
Warm and cold air meet over the plains, and make more tornadoes than anywhere else on Earth.
Into the desert
In the south-west the grass thins out into desert: the country of the roadrunner and the rattlesnake.
Photo gallery
Real photos of the animals on this page. Tap one to see it bigger.
American bison
Black-tailed prairie dog
Prairie rattlesnake
Greater roadrunner
Coyote
Monarch butterfly
Photos are from Wikimedia Commons and are used under free licences. They have been resized, and cropped where they appear in link previews. Open a photo to see who took it.
A sea of grass
The plains once stretched unbroken from Canada to Texas, with tens of millions of bison on them. Most is farmland now, but the pieces of prairie that remain are still full of life.
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