The Bison Becomes the First National Mammal of the United States
May 17, 2016
Last week, on May 9, U.S. President Barack Obama signed into law the National Bison Legacy Act, making the American bison, or “buffalo,” which was once nearly hunted to extinction, the official national mammal. Hunting and habitat destruction reduced the U.S. bison population from millions to just around 300 by the 1880’s. Today, thanks to legal protection, the bison population is now at 500,000. The bison, considered one of the first U.S. conservation success stories, takes its place beside the bald eagle (the national bird since 1782) as a beautiful American symbol.
The term buffalo is the common name of several kinds of large wild oxen. The name was first given to the black water buffalo of India. Most Americans call the American bison a “buffalo,” but zoologists do not consider it a true buffalo.
The American bison is brownish-black, except on the hind part of its body, which is brown. It has long, coarse hair covering its head, neck, and hump. The hair forms a beard on the throat and chin. On its head, it has a pair of horns similar to those of domestic cattle. A full-grown bull (male) measures from 10 to 12 ½ feet (3 to 3.8 meters) long and may stand 5 ½ to 6 feet (1.7 to 1.8 meters) high. The largest bulls may weigh as much as 3,000 pounds (1,400 kilograms). Cows (females) are much smaller and rarely weigh more than 900 pounds (410 kilograms).
Great herds of bison once roamed over North America between the Appalachian Mountains in the east and the Rocky Mountains in the west. Indians depended upon bison meat for food and hides for clothing. In 1850, about 20 million bison still thundered over the western plains. Huge herds often forced railroad trains to stop while the animals crossed the tracks. In the late 1800′s, white American hunters slaughtered millions of bison, depriving Indians of their main source of food and almost wiping out the bison.
Thanks to legal protection, the number of bison has been on the rise, yet the numbers are still far from the millions of bison that once roamed the United States less than 200 years ago. Many bison are living in commercial and conservation herds in more than a dozen states.
Yellowstone National Park, which lies in the western states of Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana, is the only place in the country where bison have lived continually. It is also home to the largest herd. Last week, a bison calf in Yellowstone had to be euthanized (humanely killed) after being handled by tourists. People visiting Yellowstone had spotted the calf, feared it would freeze in the cold temperatures, and transported the calf to a ranger station in their car. (In fact, the calf’s coat protects it from the cold.) By handling the animal, however, the tourists left their human smell on it, and the young animal was then rejected by its herd after it was reunited with them. It could not survive on its own. Wild animals such as bison should never be handled by people.