Wood Bison

Bison bison athabasca

The wood bison was an historic resident of northern Alberta, British Columbia, and the southern North West Territories. Today, a few populations of several hundred each are confined to protected areas such as Elk Island National Park in Alberta, and the largest population (2000) is found in the Mackenzie Bison Sanctuary in the North West Territories. A large population of mixed-stock (plains and woodland) bison is protected in Wood Buffalo National Park, which covers almost 40% of the wood bison's former range. The wood bison can be distinguished from the plains bison by its darker colouration, longer legs, and greater hight, and by its lighter build. The wood bison is adapted to life as a grazer on mountain hillsides, aspen parkland, coniferous forests, and the lowlands of the Peace and Slave rivers.