Currently, there are approximately 20,500 Plains bison in conservation herds and an additional 420,000 in commercial herds. While bison are no longer threatened with extinction, the species faces other challenges.
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With the advent of nuclear microsatellite DNA testing, the number of herds that are known to contain cattle genes has increased. Though approximately 500,000 bison exist on private ranches and in public herds, perhaps only 15,000 to 25,000 of these bison are pure and are not actually bison-cattle hybrids.
The ancient bison, Bison antiquus, was taller, had longer horns, and was 25% more massive than living American bison (Bison bison). It was roughly 7.5 feet tall and 15 feet long, weighing approximately 3,500 pounds.
By the 1800s, Native Americans learned to use horses to chase bison, dramatically expanding their hunting range. But then white trappers and traders introduced guns in the West, killing millions more buffalo for their hides. By the middle of the 19th century, even train passengers were shooting bison for sport.
When the Transcontinental Railroad was completed in 1869, it accelerated the decimation of the species and by 1900, naturalists estimated less than 1,000 bison remained. By the late 1880s, the endless herds of bison were wiped out and just a few hundred individuals remained.