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The
great American bison is a truly magnificent animal. It is the largest land
mammal in North America since the end of the Ice Age. Estimates of the
pre-European herd size vary from 30,000,000 to 70,000,000 animals and they
ranged over most of North America.
There are three subspecies of bison: the Plains bison, Wood bison, and the
European Wisent.
Where bison and Native Americans lived together, the bison provided much
more than food.
Unregulated killing of bison led to the many millions of animals being
reduced to no more than 1,500 individuals in the mid to late 1800s.
Legal protection of the bison in Yellowstone Park, the establishment of
preserves like the National Bison Refuge in Montana, along with
individuals raising bison on their own land, have helped restore the bison
to over 350,000 animals.
In 1806, Lewis and Clark wrote, "The moving multitude...darkened the
whole plains".
As the American frontier expanded westward, a systematic reduction
of the buffalo began around 1830.
Organized groups of hunters killed buffalo for hides and meat, often
killing up to 250 buffalo a day.
Estimates indicate there were once between 30 to 75 million buffalo in
North America, but the great herds were reduced to less than 300 buffalo
by 1900.
Today, buffalo populations are strong once again, with an estimate of
200,000 buffalo roaming the plains, many at National Wildlife Refuges,
National Parks, and private herds.
Credits
© Copyright 1998,
Friends of the Prairie Learning Center
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