Tuesday, April 26, 2016
Have you ever wanted your own bison?
Well now you can have one!...sort of. On the webpage of this charity organization, you can sponsor an American bison. With these donations, Defenders of Wildlife will work to protect the poaching of bison who wander outside of the limits of Yellowstone National Park. Plus, you can adopt a stuffed bison for an additional $10.
Betcha didn't know
The American bison's habitat extended all the way to the Atlantic Ocean and they lived in every state to the east of the Mississippi, except for Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine. While they weren't domesticated, Dale Lott details that Native Americans terraformed to enable their cultivation.
"The openings in the woods where they grazed owed their existence to active management by Native Americans. These meadows were closely akin to the pastures European settlers would create for their cattle, except that the Indians used fires rather than axes".
Lott, Dale F.. American Bison. Berkeley, US: University of California Press, 2002. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 26 April 2016.
Copyright © 2002. University of California Press. All rights reserved.
"The openings in the woods where they grazed owed their existence to active management by Native Americans. These meadows were closely akin to the pastures European settlers would create for their cattle, except that the Indians used fires rather than axes".
Lott, Dale F.. American Bison. Berkeley, US: University of California Press, 2002. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 26 April 2016.
Copyright © 2002. University of California Press. All rights reserved.
What to do if you encounter a bison
According to Dale Lott, author of American Bison, the best advice to stave off a charging bison is to turn and run.
"I’ve always run away. Calling an animal’s bluff works only if it is bluffing. If it’s not, then you’re not even a moving target. I have little confidence in my ability to intimidate an animal that will attack a pack of wolves or a grizzly bear. The cow has always turned away from my rapidly retreating back and returned to her calf. I suspect I owe my unpunctured backside to the wolf’s habit of hunting in packs. If the mother chases one wolf very far, she leaves her calf exposed to the others. No profit, then, in running after a diminishing threat. Getting right back to the calf is a good rule of thumb, and mothers seem to follow it."
Lott, Dale F.. American Bison. Berkeley, US: University of California Press, 2002. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 26 April 2016.
Copyright © 2002. University of California Press. All rights reserved.
"I’ve always run away. Calling an animal’s bluff works only if it is bluffing. If it’s not, then you’re not even a moving target. I have little confidence in my ability to intimidate an animal that will attack a pack of wolves or a grizzly bear. The cow has always turned away from my rapidly retreating back and returned to her calf. I suspect I owe my unpunctured backside to the wolf’s habit of hunting in packs. If the mother chases one wolf very far, she leaves her calf exposed to the others. No profit, then, in running after a diminishing threat. Getting right back to the calf is a good rule of thumb, and mothers seem to follow it."
Lott, Dale F.. American Bison. Berkeley, US: University of California Press, 2002. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 26 April 2016.
Copyright © 2002. University of California Press. All rights reserved.
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