The Rise, Fall, and Resurrection of the American Bison

The American bison, Bison bison, is descended from a species of Eurasian steepe bison, Bison priscus, that crossed the land bridge into America about 300,000 years ago, during the last Ice Age. Bison priscus had already developed many of the basic characteristics of modern bison when it crossed into America, including life in the herd and the use of two entirely different but both potentially effective defenses against predators: outrunning them or confronting them. Bison priscus was already a long-bodied runner capable of both speed and endurance. However, its large size and sharp horns made it a formidable opponent as well, and these early bison were capable of chasing off or even killing predators both singly and in groups. They also employed social defense formations when appropriate, hiding calves in the center of a ring of large, angry adults facing outwards with their sharp horns.

Under pressure from the large predators of the Ice Age-era Plains, which included lions and large wolves, Bison priscus soon developed into the larger and faster species, Bison latifrons, with huge horns. This species lasted until about 22,000 years ago and was suceeded by the slightly smaller and more efficient Bison antiquus which lasted until the arrival, near the end of the Ice Age, of the Clovis elephant hunters, humans who hunted the ancient mammoths so effectivley that they exterminated them, and their descendants, the Folsom bison hunting cultures. The Folsom bison hunters used short, sturdy spears and exploited the tendency of bison to defend their young by attacking and chasing off predators. It seems to have been during this period that the musk-ox like circular social defense formations began to die out in bison and be replaced by looser structures.

The pressures of human hunters combined with a drop in temperatures following the period of warming when humans had spread acorss the continent to replace Bison antiquus with Bison occidentalis, a smaller species better adapted to the cold and, apparently, more resistant to human attack. Archaeological evidence suggests that this species would not stand and confront human hunters. The stabbing spear of the Folsom culture was replaced by a throwing spear.

Another warming period followed, in which the bison developed into its modern form, Bison bison. By about 5,000 years ago, its body mass had shrunk to modern levels, a reduction of 30% over prehistoric levels, and its skeletal, skull, and horn sizes were also much reduced. Although it still confronted predators effectively under some circumstances, the new bison was far more like to run away. It no longer had the speed of Bison latifrons, but had greater power and endurance. In the short equestrian heyday of the Plains tribes, a "three buffalo horse" was considered a treasure, for few horses could run down more than one bison per hunt. The new bison were also particularly shy of humans and readily took flight at the sight of them.

This characteristic was soon exploited by humans as well. The first evidence of humans driving bison into natural traps and over cliffs appears about 5,500 years ago. They also took advantage of the bison's comparative tolerance for wolves and draped themselves in wolf skins to get close enough to be within bow range of the herd. With the former two tactics, it was an unfortunate necessity to kill all trapped and ambushed animals, whether or not they could all be used, in order to prevent escapees from spreading the alarm to other herds. From this point on, the harsh climate of their Plains habitat, which kept human populations fairly low, and the unpredictability of their own movement, may have saved the bison from extinction like that visited upon the mammoths and earlier bison species. Bison became increasingly better adapted to their harsh Plains climate, developing better teeth for cutting and grinding the lower quality forage of the Plains, smaller, more efficient body size, and a stronger herding sense.

The heyday of the great bison herds, ironically enough, may well have been caused by the same people who in the end nearly exterminated them. The early European visitors to America brought with them a host of diseases new to the native peoples of the continent, from flu and the common cold to tuberculosis and scarlet fever. These diseases swept quickly across the continent, killing perhaps as much as 90% of the human populations, sometimes decades or even centuries before the disease-stricken tribes were even aware who the Europeans were. The decline in human populations caused a surge in the populations of bison, elk, and other prey animals across the continent. Non-human predators also responded to these expolsions - early visitors to the Plains reported wolf packs of as many as 70 individuals.

The heyday of the bison herds and American Indian tribes alike came to an end after only a few short generations. The young United States was pushing ever westwards and concern over the land's previous inhabitants was not about to stop it. The Great Plains Wars between the Indians and the whites may have stretched on longer if not for the brilliant and cruel brainchild of General William Tecumseh Sherman, the same man whose scorched earth policy had brought the South to its knees during the Civil War. Whites were already enthusiastic and wasteful hunters of the vast bison herds. Sherman made the destruction of the bison government policy, knowing the the destruction of the great herds would also destroy the tribes dependant on them.

"Buffalo Bill" Cody and others like him could destroy scores of buffalo in a day. Some were used to feed the workers building the transcontinental railway, other were skinned, their tongues (considered a delicacy by Indians and whites alike) cut out, and their bodies left to rot in the sun. General Philip Sheridan, addressing the House and Senate in 1857, said that "These men [the buffalo hunters] have done in the last two years and will do more in the next year to settle the vexed Indian question, than the entire regular army has done in the last thirty years." It took only 15 years, from about 1868 to 1883, to kill off the buffalo. By 1894, the only wild bison remaining in the United States were a small herd in Yellowstone National Park.

Once the bison were almost gone and the tribes that had depended on them defeated, a new feeling took over the nation, one almost of nostalgia. President, nature lover, and big game hunter Theodore Roosevelt spearheaded the movement to preserve what was left of the Wild West and the creatures who had once inhabited it. The new mood led to policies that saved the bison and numerous other species from almost certain extinction.

The efforts of six men are largely responsible for the salvation of the bison. James McKay, Charles Alloway, Charles Goodnight, Walking Coyote, Frederick Dupree, and Charles "Buffalo" Jones each either saw business opportunities in preserving the bison or wanted to rescue a dying species. Beginning in the 1870's, they captured and rescued bison and today all bison are believed descended from 88 animals captured by these six men, 23 surviving members of the Yellowstone herd, and a few held in zoos.

Bison today exist in the wild in only a few places, mostly national parks, but they are no longer an endangered species. In recent years there has been a huge surge of interest in bison ranching. Bison meat is one of the healthiest red meats in the world: lower in fat and cholesterol and higher in iron, protein, and many important vitamins and minerals than beef, pork, or even chicken. Most bison meat is also grass-fed, free-range, and free of artificial hormones or antibiotics.

As consumers have grown increasingly interested in the health benefits of bison, ranchers have become aware of their other benefits. Bison are sturdier and hardier than cattle, and, when stocked at proper levels, less likely to overgraze and damage their pastures. Today there are more than 200,000 bison in North America, most of them on private ranches.