Before America was America, bison roamed freely over the entire continent with the largest concentration in what would be come the Great American West. With populations in the tens of thousands and being the largest land animal around, the bison pretty much reigned.
During that time, the only humans hunting this immense animal were the Indians equipped with bows and arrows. Though these animals are large, weighing in around a ton full grown, they could easily reach speeds of 35 mph, thus the Indians didn’t significantly hunt this animal to extinction.
In the 1700’s, the bison’s demise began due to the introduction of the horse and the invention of the rifle. No longer were people content with hunting for only what they could eat – bison hide was a valuable commodity. Starting in the 1820-1880 the era is known as “The Great Slaughter” as bison were taken from a healthy population of over 30 million down to 1000 animals. Can you imagine it? That averages about 58 buffalo an hour for those 60 years.
The bison never made the Federal extinction list. Instead, private conservation efforts were started to bring this symbol of the old west back from the brink of extinction. Bison were sent to the Bronx zoo and Yellowstone for breeding. The offspring were then relocated to states where populations hadn’t exploded such as Montana, the Dakotas and Nebraska. Slowly the population began rebounding though it is still not even 1% as big as it was in the 1700’s.
Ironically, the biggest population boom of bison comes from ranchers who have discovered bison are easier to manage than cattle. With the ever popular health movement, bison meat is becoming more popular as it is low in fat and cholesterol. As of today, there are approximately 200,000 bison being raised privately, whereas roaming wild are less than 20,000.
While visiting my father in North Dakota my early twenties, my son and I were able to see not only a herd of bison but also of wild mustangs. It was truly awesome to see these huge animals roaming across the prairie. Up close, they looked kind of cuddly and docile but the ranger was quick to point out that this was far from true. While bison can only see about 8 feet, once you are in their sights they will run you down just as a hippo or rhinoceros would.
One point to mention here, as it seems we often think of bison as buffalo, biologically speaking, they’re birds of a different feather. Buffalo (Cape buffalo and water buffalo) are native only to Africa and Asia, whereas bison are native to North America. Both are members of the Bovidae family.
