Thanksgiving 2007 was my English husband's first Thanksgiving in America. Thanksgiving is not observed in the UK and he had no idea how we handled it. So we got into a discussion about what we'd be eating for Thanksgiving dinner.

He didn't seem too impressed with the deep-fried turkey idea. If you've never had deep-fried turkey you owe it to yourself to try it. It's so tender and juicy and cooks in a lot less time. It requires a special fryer and about five gallons of peanut oil.

Since my daughter was going with her father to his family for Thanksgiving there was no real need to keep tradition so we opted to try buffalo. Yes, we made buffalo burgers for Thanksgiving! They were delicious!

Now, from reading some of my other Hubs you have probably figured out that being a Texas gal married to an Englishman causes quite a few discussions in our household about what things are called. One of them has been the proper name for the hairy bovidae we affectionally refer to as the American buffalo. My husband insists that it is a bison.

So, in my quest to be right and to silence him on this topic, I decided to conduct a little research on my own.

I found out some interesting things.

First things first. Evidently, he is correct. (Don't you just hate when that happens!) I checked a number of sources and they are all in agreement. The scientific name for the American buffalo is actually a bison and the buffalo only got that nickname from the Europeans who discovered them in America and thought they resembled the African buffalo and began calling them that. True buffalo are only found in Asia and Africa.

So that probably means it was a dang Englishman that started the whole mixup anyways! I'll be sure to drive that point home with him later.

Now, get this. They can grow up to 2400 pounds. Just to remind you how much that is, a ton is 2000 pounds (a short ton, that is--that could start a whole other hub discussion!) and a 1967 Volkswagen Beetle only weighed 1698 pounds. So, you could put two 350 pound rednecks into the car and still weigh less than the buffalo. (Bet you're trying to picture how two 350 lbs rednecks would fit in a 1967 Volkswagen Beetle! lol)

They also can grow up to 6 ft tall and 9 ft long. Can you imagine a six foot man standing next to one as tall as him?!

Now, here's the scary part, as if being heavier than a loaded VW Beetle and as tall as a man wasn't scary enough, they can sprint 40 miles an hour for a quarter mile! I find that really incredible! I doubt that the VW Beetle loaded with the two 350 lbs. rednecks could even get up to 40 miles an hour in a quarter mile!

By the way, having learned that the American buffalo is actually a bison hasn't changed what I'll be calling it.

Follow this link to learn how you can adopt an American Buffalo (Bison) for $20, a Buffalo Family for $50, or a herd for $75.