Bison occidentalis
Encyclopedia
Bison occidentalis is an extinct species of bison
that lived in North America during the Pleistocene
. It probably evolved from Bison priscus. B. occidentalis was smaller and smaller horned than the steppe bison. Unlike any bison before it, its horns pointed upward, parallel to the plane of its face from nose to forehead, instead of pointing forward through that plane. Around 5,000 years ago, B. occidentalis was replaced by today's smaller Bison bison. It has been theorized that B. occidentalis declined in numbers because of competition with other grass eaters of the megafauna
epoch.
Bison
Members of the genus Bison are large, even-toed ungulates within the subfamily Bovinae. Two extant and four extinct species are recognized...
that lived in North America during the Pleistocene
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene is the epoch from 2,588,000 to 11,700 years BP that spans the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....
. It probably evolved from Bison priscus. B. occidentalis was smaller and smaller horned than the steppe bison. Unlike any bison before it, its horns pointed upward, parallel to the plane of its face from nose to forehead, instead of pointing forward through that plane. Around 5,000 years ago, B. occidentalis was replaced by today's smaller Bison bison. It has been theorized that B. occidentalis declined in numbers because of competition with other grass eaters of the megafauna
Megafauna
In terrestrial zoology, megafauna are "giant", "very large" or "large" animals. The most common thresholds used are or...
epoch.