Buffalo or Bison: what is in a name?
Both Buffalo and bison are correct. Buffalo is the popular name for North American Bison, whose scientific name is Bison bison. Scientifically: the term “buffalo” is incorrect for the North American species. Its proper Latin name is “Bison bison.” However, common usage has made the term “buffalo” an acceptable synonym for the American bison.
More importantly, Buffalo have many names given to them from the Buffalo Cultures who evolved with them, including ee-nee-wah (Blackfeet), quay-quai (Salish), tatanka (Lakota), ee dan non (Aaniiih), hotova’a (Cheyenne), qoq’alx (Nez Perce), and many more.
Buffalo Field Campaign co-founder, Rosalie Little Thunder, Sincangu Lakota Elder, who passed away in 2014, used the word Buffalo. In fact, our first name was Buffalo Nations. When Rosalie left our headquarters and headed back to nurture her Pine Ridge Reservation, she asked that we change the name to Buffalo Field Campaign to honor the potency that the name Buffalo Nations has for Indigenous People.
In the seventeenth century, French explorers in North America referred to the new species they encountered as “les boeufs,” meaning oxen or beeves. The English, arriving later, eventually modified the pronunciation to “la buff.” The name became more distorted as time passed, becoming “buffle,” “buffler,” “buffillo,” and, eventually, “buffalo.”
Buffalo Habitat
Like all wildlife species: no wild habitat = no wild buffalo.
Securing room to roam for the buffalo far into the future is a core objective of BFC, and something we work hard to accomplish. On our habitat page we offer you a variety of maps and graphics to help you understand buffalo history, the native range of bison, current Yellowstone bison geography, buffalo migration, and how conservation of the land supports buffalo protection.
