The European bison (Bison bonasus Linnaeus, 1758) is a large ruminant (5.9 ft/1.80 m) with a brown woolly fleece composed of long hairs. Its average weight of 1,763 lbs (800 kg) makes it the largest land mammal in Europe. It differs from its American cousin, who lives in the plains, by its silhouette with a less pronounced hump and its less apart horns better suited to its forest habitat.