Bison
- Thread starter Bisonfan
- Start date
If you’re looking for some holders in North American zoos, check out this thread: Where do the Deer & Antelope Play?: A Look at America's Ungulate Populations
If you’re looking for some holders in Europe, then go to ZootierlisteHomepage
Of note, I believe the only USA zoo that has the wood bison subspecies instead of plains bison is Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center. Perhaps local resident @Pleistohorse can confirm this?
That is my understanding. The AWCC and ADF&G refer to the Wood Bison in Alaska (both captive and wild) as the only Wood Bison in the United States.
Aardwolf
Well-Known Member
Being a little flippant, it's almost easier to mention the North American zoos that *don't* have bison.
An incomplete list of US zoos with bison includes: Beardsley Zoo, Bergen County Zoo, Bronx Zoo, Brookfield Zoo, Buffalo Zoo, Caldwell Zoo, Cape May County Zoo, Columbus Zoo, Como Zoo, Detroit Zoo, Elmwood Park Zoo, Fossil Rim, Green Bay, Henry Villas, Minnesota Zoo, National Zoo, North Carolina Zoo, Oakland Zoo, Queens Zoo, Richmond Zoo, Roger Williams Park Zoo, Salisbury Zoo, San Francisco Zoo, Sedgwick County Zoo, Turtle Back Zoo, and many others, AZA and non-AZA ... In Canada you can find them in Winnipeg, Toronto, St Felicien, Calgary, and many others.
Granted, a decent number of these facilities have bison with at least some domestic cattle blood in them, but there is a growing movement to maintain purer American bison stock.
An incomplete list of US zoos with bison includes: Beardsley Zoo, Bergen County Zoo, Bronx Zoo, Brookfield Zoo, Buffalo Zoo, Caldwell Zoo, Cape May County Zoo, Columbus Zoo, Como Zoo, Detroit Zoo, Elmwood Park Zoo, Fossil Rim, Green Bay, Henry Villas, Minnesota Zoo, National Zoo, North Carolina Zoo, Oakland Zoo, Queens Zoo, Richmond Zoo, Roger Williams Park Zoo, Salisbury Zoo, San Francisco Zoo, Sedgwick County Zoo, Turtle Back Zoo, and many others, AZA and non-AZA ... In Canada you can find them in Winnipeg, Toronto, St Felicien, Calgary, and many others.
Granted, a decent number of these facilities have bison with at least some domestic cattle blood in them, but there is a growing movement to maintain purer American bison stock.
Bengal Tiger
Well-Known Member
Interesting, I always wondered what subspecies of bison were held, and where. Thanks for the info @Pleistohorse
The only zoos keeping pure American Bison (bison with no cattle genes) are Bronx, Henry Vilas, Minnesota, Zollmann, Oakland, Oklahoma City, Smithsonian National, and Sedgwick County.
Two zoos in Arizona - Wildlife World and Bearizona - have "bison" that include off white specimens. They have admitted that the light coloration is a result of cross breeding bison with a breed of white domestic cattle.
Tiger
Well-Known Member
If you are also looking for European keepers, on this site you can find keepers from Europe, New Zealand, the middle east, Taiwan, Singapore and some other countries of different species and subspecies: ZootierlisteHomepage
You can also find former holders here by simply clicking on former holdings. For more information about the bisons in the zoo, you must click on the zoo.
There are only 17 Bison in South Africa, 12 are in the North Cape Province at a game farm in the heart of the Karoo called Bloemhof-Karoo and 5 others are kept at The lion and Rhino Safari Park. These Five were purchased from Bloemhof-Karoo for R2.1 Million (140 800 USD) each.
San Francisco Zoo does not have Bison, unless you are referring to the small herd in Golden Gate Park? I don't know whether the zoo helps with those, I think they might?
Aardwolf
Well-Known Member
They are listed as having bison on ZIMS. Perhaps that is referring to the herd at the park, and they just maintain them on their inventory.
Yes, San Francisco zoo cares for the current heard: Just Don't Call Them Buffalo: Meet the Bison of Golden Gate Park | KQED News But I was always under the impression that the Science Center cared for the heard because of how close it was.
It's always interesting to read when people get excited about seeing these. I pass bison up usually since I can see semiwild populations here and have seen truly wild populations. I suppose it's like a person from Australia passing over a kangaroo exhibit.
Interesting to see the differences of the populations of American Bison in American zoos compared to zoos in Europe. According to figures by @ThylacineAlive, there are 49 zoos in the AZA that hold American Bison (Where do the Deer & Antelope Play?: A Look at America's Ungulate Populations). However, there are only 9 European zoos that hold American Bison (non-subspecies specific) according to Zootierliste. Is this just a case of more zoos holding them because they are situated where the species is located?
Well, North American and European Bison holdings have always been a little weird. North American zoos have kept Wisent in the past but are now mostly gone. Whereas Europe holds a few North American Bison. Now you're probably right North America has more bison because they're more widespread here and are much more common in zoos.
Europe: plains bison in 98 collection, wood bison (purebred) in 16.
I would not hold my fingers on the buzzer for purebred plains though.
How many US zoos hold purebred plains (no domestic cattle blood) and how many North American zoos with wood bison (Toronto, Calgary?, Alaska Zoo)???
I would not hold my fingers on the buzzer for purebred plains though.
How many US zoos hold purebred plains (no domestic cattle blood) and how many North American zoos with wood bison (Toronto, Calgary?, Alaska Zoo)???
The best list you can get right now is on the North American ungulate thread mentioned above.