BUFFALO TALES
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September 14, 2024
By January 2019, the buffalo at Banff had been free-roaming for 5 months, after being released from their small enclosed pasture in the remote Panther Valley. They are being tracked and monitored by the Banff bison scientists with the help of GPS collar data, remote cameras and field observations.
August 10, 2024
For over a century, Parks Canada has been leading the charge to restore wild bison in Canada.
One of its first ventures was the display buffalo herd placed in a small 300-acre paddock near Banff in 1885.
Canada’s oldest national park—Banff National Park—is near the mountain resort of Banff and Lake Louise.
July 12, 2024
Buffalo are social creatures. They like living together in herds.
But not just any herd. Their own herd. The one in which they know everyone else intimately. Usually they are relatives.
And not too large a herd—30 to 60 seems a good size.
Except sometimes it’s the “bigger the better.” That happens in late July and August when historically the great herds came together for breeding season.
June 12, 2024
Much has been written through the years about the role that noted conservationists from the east played in pulling bison back from the brink of extinction.
But Ken Zontek, buffalo historian, raises an interesting point in his book. He says not much attention has been paid to westerners who actually kept the young calves alive.
May 12, 2024
Clearly, the buffalo were headed for extinction. No one seemed to care.
The “bottleneck”—as it’s been called—drew even closer each year after the last great buffalo hunt on the Great Sioux Reservation in 1883.
The low point came in the 1890’s, or perhaps later, around the turn of the century. That was when the “safe and protected” Yellowstone Park herd, estimated at 200, was suddenly decimated by poachers seeking trophy heads.
Fewer than 25 buffalo, well hidden in remote and rugged canyons, survived that slaughter in Yellowstone Park.
April 12, 2024
What shall we call this magnificent monarch of the Plains—buffalo or bison?
Some people are adamant: the term buffalo correctly refers only to water buffalo in South Asia and Cape buffalo in Africa. We are simply wrong, misinformed, or ignorant to even think of calling the American bison—Buffalo.
November 15, 2023
Today, buffalo live in all 50 states and across Canada, and serve as a symbol of American unity, resilience and healthy lifestyles and communities.
OctobeI 25, 2023
t’s coming up! Buffalo Day is November 4, 2023—Always the first Saturday in November. Get your family ready to celebrate! Remember, in the US and Canada we use the terms Bison and Buffalo interchangeably. And that’s OK. Either fits!