Project

Endangered animals in America.
The Wood Bison, Bison bison athabascae, also called Mountain Bison, Wood Buffalo or Mountain Buffalo, is a distinct northern subspecies or ecotype of the American Bison (often called "buffalo"). Its original range included much of the boreal forest regions of Alaska, Yukon, western Northwest Territories, northeastern British Columbia, northern Alberta, and northwestern Saskatchewan. It is included on the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) threatened species list.
The Wood Bison differs from the Plains Bison (Bison bison bison), the other surviving North American subspecies/ecotype, in a number of important ways. Most notably, the Wood Bison is heavier, with large males weighing over 900 kilograms (2,000 lb), making it the largest terrestrial animal in North America. The highest point of the Wood Bison is well ahead of its front legs, while the Plains Bison's highest point is directly above the front legs. Wood bison also have larger horn cores, a darker and woollier pelage, and less hair on their forelegs and beard.

 Conservation

Wood Bison in Wood Buffalo National Park

In addition to the loss of habitat and hunting, Wood Bison populations have also been in danger of hybridizing with Plains Bison, and therefore polluting the genetic stock.
As with other bison, the Wood Bison's population was devastated by hunting and other factors. By the early 1900s, they were regarded as extremely rare or perhaps nearly extinct. However, a herd of about 200 was discovered in Alberta, Canada in 1957. This herd has since recovered to a total population of approximately 2,500, largely as a result of conservation efforts by Canadian government agencies. In 1988, the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) changed the subspecies' conservation status from "endangered" to "threatened".
On June 17, 2008, 53 Canadian Wood Bison were transferred from Elk Island National Park in Alberta, Canada, to the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center near Anchorage, Alaska. There they will be held in quarantine for two years, and then re-introduced to their native habitat in the Minto Flats area near Fairbanks.
Currently there are only 3,000 Wood Bison in the wild, located in the Northwest Territories, Yukon, British Columbia, Alberta, and Manitoba.