Snowy Bison
Yellowstone National Park
Wyoming
USA
Click On Image To Enlarge.
This bison is from the Central Interior herd, which numbers approximately 1400 individuals, and can be found along the Madison River valley where it was photographed. It was snowing at the time the image was taken.
The Yellowstone Park bison herd in Yellowstone National Park is probably the oldest and largest public bison herd in the United States. The Yellowstone Park bison herd was estimated in 2015 to be 4,900 bison The bison in the Yellowstone Park bison herd are American bison of the Plains bison subspecies. Yellowstone National Park may be the only location in the United States where free-ranging bison were never extirpated, since they continued to exist in the wild and were not re-introduced, as has been done in most other bison herd areas.
The Central Interior herd, which numbers approximately 1400 individuals, ranges from the Madison River valley into the Hayden Valley and Upper and Lower Geyser Basins.
American Bison once numbered in the millions, perhaps between 25 million and 60 million by some estimates, and they were possibly the most numerous large land animal on earth. However, by the late 1880s, they had been hunted to near extinction throughout North America. It appears that the Yellowstone Park bison herd was the last free-ranging bison herd in the United States and the only place where bison were not extirpated in the United States. The Yellowstone Park bison herd is descended from a remnant population of 23 individual bison that survived the mass slaughter of the 19th century by hiding out in the Pelican Valley of Yellowstone Park. In 1902, a captive herd of 21 Goodnight plains bison was introduced to the park and then moved to the Lamar Valley and managed as livestock until the 1960s, when a policy of natural regulation was adopted by the park.
American bison live in river valleys, and on prairies and plains. Their typical habitat is open or semi-open grasslands, as well as sagebrush, semi-arid lands and scrublands. Some lightly wooded areas are also known historically to have supported bison. Bison will also graze in hilly or mountainous areas where the slopes are not steep. Though bison are not particularly known as high altitude animals, members of the Yellowstone Park bison herd are frequently found at elevations above 8,000 feet and a herd started with founder animals from Yellowstone, the Henry Mountains bison herd, is found on the plains around the Henry Mountains, Utah, as well as in mountain valleys of the Henry Mountains to an altitude of 10,000 feet.
Snowy Bison
Yellowstone National Park
Wyoming
USA
Click On Image To Enlarge.
This bison is from the Central Interior herd, which numbers approximately 1400 individuals, and can be found along the Madison River valley where it was photographed. It was snowing at the time the image was taken.
The Yellowstone Park bison herd in Yellowstone National Park is probably the oldest and largest public bison herd in the United States. The Yellowstone Park bison herd was estimated in 2015 to be 4,900 bison The bison in the Yellowstone Park bison herd are American bison of the Plains bison subspecies. Yellowstone National Park may be the only location in the United States where free-ranging bison were never extirpated, since they continued to exist in the wild and were not re-introduced, as has been done in most other bison herd areas.
The Central Interior herd, which numbers approximately 1400 individuals, ranges from the Madison River valley into the Hayden Valley and Upper and Lower Geyser Basins.
American Bison once numbered in the millions, perhaps between 25 million and 60 million by some estimates, and they were possibly the most numerous large land animal on earth. However, by the late 1880s, they had been hunted to near extinction throughout North America. It appears that the Yellowstone Park bison herd was the last free-ranging bison herd in the United States and the only place where bison were not extirpated in the United States. The Yellowstone Park bison herd is descended from a remnant population of 23 individual bison that survived the mass slaughter of the 19th century by hiding out in the Pelican Valley of Yellowstone Park. In 1902, a captive herd of 21 Goodnight plains bison was introduced to the park and then moved to the Lamar Valley and managed as livestock until the 1960s, when a policy of natural regulation was adopted by the park.
American bison live in river valleys, and on prairies and plains. Their typical habitat is open or semi-open grasslands, as well as sagebrush, semi-arid lands and scrublands. Some lightly wooded areas are also known historically to have supported bison. Bison will also graze in hilly or mountainous areas where the slopes are not steep. Though bison are not particularly known as high altitude animals, members of the Yellowstone Park bison herd are frequently found at elevations above 8,000 feet and a herd started with founder animals from Yellowstone, the Henry Mountains bison herd, is found on the plains around the Henry Mountains, Utah, as well as in mountain valleys of the Henry Mountains to an altitude of 10,000 feet.