# bison or buffalo ? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 13, 2004, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bison-or-buffalo/268948 "2004-10-13T03:02:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bison-or-buffalo/268948/1 "2004-10-13T03:02:12Z")
What exactly is the difference? Why did Europeans (who would know a bison by the physical similarity to bison in Europe call the North American bison a buffalo? ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bison-or-buffalo/268948/2 "2004-10-13T03:50:40Z")
> [@](#): > > The American Buffalo is not a true buffalo. It’s closest relative is the European Bison or Wisent and the Canadian Woods Bison, not the buffalo of Asia or Africa, such as the Cape buffalo or Water Buffalo. Scientifically, the American Buffalo is named Bison and belongs to Bovidae family of mammals, as do domestic cattle. Because our history has so ingrained in us the name “Buffalo” we still use it, although “Bison” and “Buffalo” are used interchangeably. > > Many more water buffalo (which are the true buffalo) and water buffalo products have recently found their way into the United States markets. This has caused the Bison industry to rethink the term buffalo being applied to our “Bison” products. Therefore, the National Bison Association encourages all Bison producers and marketers to use the name Bison to avoid confusion with water buffalo and to help inform the American public that Bison is indeed the American Buffalo they know and love. Source: [http://www.wibison.com/buffalo\_bison.html](http://www.wibison.com/buffalo_bison.html) ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bison-or-buffalo/268948/3 "2004-10-13T04:00:26Z")
The [European Bison](http://www.delpho.de/english/bison.htm) _Bison bonasus_, or Wisent, is the same genus as the American Bison _Bison bison_. They are so similar they are sometimes considered to belong to the same species. Buffalos include the Water Buffalo _Bubalus bubalus_ , originally of south Asia, and the African or Cape Buffalo _Syncerus caffer_, which are rather different animals. As to why the first explorers made this mistake, they were not naturalists and often called animals in the New World by the name of a rather different one they knew in the Old World. For example, they called the Wapiti, a large deer very closely related to the European Red Deer an “Elk,” even though this name properly belongs to a Eurasian animal closely related to the North American Moose. Don’t even get me started on how badly they screwed up bird names. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bison-or-buffalo/268948/4 "2004-10-13T05:34:13Z")
Shouldn’t be too surprising since the first European arrivals couldn’t even get the name of the \*\*\*people \*\*\*in the Americas right. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bison-or-buffalo/268948/5 "2004-10-13T11:59:30Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > The [European Bison](http://www.delpho.de/english/bison.htm) _Bison bonasus_, or Wisent, is the same genus as the American Bison _Bison bison_. They are so similar they are sometimes considered to belong to the same species. > > Buffalos include the Water Buffalo _Bubalus bubalus_ , originally of south Asia, and the African or Cape Buffalo _Syncerus caffer_, which are rather different animals. I forgot. What is the signifigance of a binomial that’s the same, like _Bison bison_ or _Gorilla gorilla_? Other that I’ve decided that Bubalus bubalus is fun to say. (Hey, think if I say Bubalus three times a water buffalo will appear?) ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Lao](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/2bfe46/32.png) [@Dr.Lao](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Lao)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bison-or-buffalo/268948/6 "2004-10-13T12:26:06Z")
It usually means that at the time of the naming it is the first and only member of the genus that has been identified. But there is no rule that says you must name a species that founds a whole new genus in this manner. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bison-or-buffalo/268948/7 "2004-10-13T12:29:18Z")
What’s the difference between a bison and a buffalo? [Aussie accent] You cahn’t wash yer fice in a buffalo! [/Aa] ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bison-or-buffalo/268948/8 "2004-10-13T13:13:38Z")
What is the connection of the other “buffalo” of the Malay Archipelago to _B. bubalus_? I know there are different species endemic to sevral of the islands. ---
**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bison-or-buffalo/268948/9 "2004-10-13T13:20:36Z")
[Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.](http://rec-puzzles.org/new/sol.pl/language/english/sentences/repeated.words) (Scroll down.) Sorry, couldn’t resist. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bison-or-buffalo/268948/10 "2004-10-13T13:33:35Z")
> [@MikeS](#): > > [Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.](http://rec-puzzles.org/new/sol.pl/language/english/sentences/repeated.words) (Scroll down.) > > Sorry, couldn’t resist. Mushroom mushroom!! Beautiful link, thanks! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bison-or-buffalo/268948/11 "2004-10-13T15:36:13Z")
> [@Dr. Lao](#): > > It usually means that at the time of the naming it is the first and only member of the genus that has been identified. But there is no rule that says you must name a species that founds a whole new genus in this manner. Right. Such “tautonyms” are permitted in Zoology, but not allowed in Botany (the Zoological and Botanical Codes of Nomenclatute being separate). In the case of the two Bison, they were both originally described in the genus _Bos_ by Linneaus (the same genus as domestic cattle) in 1758, as _Bos bonasus_ and _Bos bison_. In 1827 the separate genus _Bison_ was set up for the two species, so that the American one’s name became a tautonym. In fact, the American Bison has two subspecies, _Bison bison bison_ and _Bison bison athabascae_, the latter the Canadian Woodland Bison. Some taxonomists still believe they should be included in the genus _Bos_. > [@Polycarp](#): > > What is the connection of the other “buffalo” of the Malay Archipelago to B. bubalus? I know there are different species endemic to sevral of the islands. Besides the Water Buffalo itself, there are three other species in the genus _Bubalus_, the Tamaraw _B. minodorensis_ on the island of Mindoro in the Philippines, and two dwarf species, often separated in the genus _Anoa_, in the lowlands (_B. depressicornis_) and highlands (_B. quarlesi_) of Sulawesi (Celebes). More information on wild cattle can be found in my Staff Report: [What did cows evolve from?](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/maurochs.html) ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bison-or-buffalo/268948/12 "2004-10-13T15:40:04Z")
The water buffalo does not actually have a repeated name. Look closely: _Bubalus bubalis_.