American Bison
Bison are the iconic image of the Great Plains and the Old West. =
Bizoni su kultna slika Velike ravnice i Starog zapada.
They are massive, shaggy beasts and the heaviest land animals in North America. =
To su masivne, čupave zveti i najteže kopnene životinje u Severnoj Americi.
Despite their hefty size, bison are quick on their feet. =
Uprkos njihovoj veličini, bizoni su brzi na nogama.
When the need arises they can run at speeds up to 40 miles (65 kilometers) an hour. =
Kad se ukaže potreba, mogu trčati brzinom od 40 milja (65 kilometara) na sat.
Their curved, sharped horns can grow to be 2 feet (61 centimeters) long. =
Njihovi zakrivljeni, oštri rogovi mogu narasti do 2 stope (61 centimetar) dužine.
Females (cows) and adult males (bulls) generally live in small, separate bands and come together in very large herds during the summer breeding season. =
Ženke (krave) i odrasli mužjaci (bikovi) uglavnom žive u malim, odvojenim grupama i okupljaju se u veoma velika stada tokom letnje sezone parenja.
Males wage battles for mating rights, but such contests rarely turn dangerous. =
Mužjaci vode bitke za prava na parenje, ali takva takmičenja retko postaju opasna.
Females give birth to one calf after a nine-month pregnancy. =
Ženke rađaju jedno tele nakon devetomesečne trudnoće.
Bison once covered the Great Plains and much of North America, and were critically important to Plains Indian societies. =
Bizoni su nekada pokrivali Velike ravnice i veći deo Severne Amerike, i bili su od kritičnog značaja za Indijanska društva Ravnice.
During the 19th century, settlers killed some 50 million bison for food, sport, adn to deprive Native Americans of their most important natural asset. =
Tokom 19. veka doseljenici su ubili oko 50 miliona bizona zbog hrane, sporta i da bi lišili nativne Amerikance njihovog najvažnijeg prirodnog dobra.
The once enormous herds were reduced to only a few hundred animals. =
Nekada ogromna stada svela su se na samo nekoliko stotina životinja.
Today, bison numbers have rebounded somewhat, and about 200,000 bison live on preserves and ranches where they are raised for their meat. =
Danas se broj bizona donekle oporavio, a oko 200,000 bizona živi u rezervatima i rančevima na kojima se uzgajaju radi mesa.













