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In American Western culture, the bison is commonly referred to as “buffalo”; however, this is a misnomer
Though both bison and buffalo belong to the same family, Bovidae, the term ‘buffalo’ properly applies only to the Asian Water Buffalo and African Buffalo. The gaur, a large, thick-coated ox found in Asia, is also known as the Indian Bison, although it is in the genus Bos and thus not a true bison.
The American and European bison are the largest terrestrial mammals in North America and Europe. Like their cattle relatives, bison are nomadic grazers and travel in herds, except for the non-dominant bulls, which travel alone or in small groups during most of the year. American bison are known for living in the Great Plains. Both species were hunted close to extinction during the 19th and 20th centuries but have since rebounded, although the European bison is still endangered.
Unlike the Asian Water Buffalo, the bison has never really been domesticated, although it does appear on farms occasionally. It is raised now mostly on large ranches in the United States and Canada for meat. Wild herds are found in Yellowstone, Utah’s Antelope Island, South Dakota’s Custer State Park, Alaska, and northern central Canada
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Comments
Wonderful capture and educational narrative.
Very nice portrait Bobby, yeah BIson Bill doesn’t sound quite right LOL!!!
outstanding image
Fantastic capture.
thanks kind friends!
Superb! It is hard to photograph animals with dark faces. You really cant get close enough to use a reflector with a beast like this :-)
This is a superb portrait of a beast that at one time was the sole provider of life to North American Indian Country. My tribe, the Oneida were big farmers and relied a lot on the Three Sisters, beans, corn, and squash. Once the Oneida moved to the midwest of North America, Bison was a little more of the diet.
I see your narrative stating the North American Bison was hunted near extinction. What is interesting is this animal was hunted to near extinction on purpose. It was a European philosphy in taking over North America. “Kill a buffalo, starve an Indian”, was the approach.
It is amazing what “man” will do for power, land , and greed. Hunting an animal to survive is one thing. Hunting for merely a fur, a horn, a tusk, or as a means of warfare to destroy a race of people, seems a little off to me.
Thanks for this post. This is a wonderful photo of an animal that means a lot to my brothers in North American Indian Country.
Fantastic detail .. and great work of light here..
you can actually feel the power of this guy – superb light again – excellant pose
fantastic ..the colors are wonderful