1. The Plains Bison
Survival of the plains bison in an ever-changing world.
Morgan Tucker
Prof. McCarty
Biology 113
21 Nov. 2014
Photo by Jack Dykinga.

2. Overview
All bison are herbivores and they have only one blood
type. Their diet consists of grass and low-lying shrubbery.
North American Buffalo have under gone many changes.
 Early animals had to adapt to climate changes.
 Western expansion decimated their populations.
 Cattle related diseases are affecting them.
 Few purebreds are left due to cross breeding.
 Rebounding from such small numbers is the problem
facing buffalo today.

3. The Early Buffalo
History records three groups inhabited North America.
 Bison Latifrons
 Bison Antiquus
 Bison Occidentalis

4. 1st Group: Bison Latifrons
 They crossed into North America from
Asia 200,000 – 800,000 years ago.
 Large horns protruded from their skulls at
right angles.
 They spread across Northern and Central
America.
 This large animal was well adapted to
the Ice Age.
 About 120,000 years ago, they died out.
 Climate changes may have caused their
food source to become scarce.
Photo by James St. John.

5. 2nd Group: Bison Antiquus
 Bison Latifrons gave way to this species
of bison.
 Their smaller horns were also aligned at
right angles to their skulls.
 They died out about 9,000 - 11,000
thousand years ago.
 This group apparently cohabitated with
early humans.
Photo by Ed Bierman.

6. 3rd Group: Bison Occidentalis
 This group overlapped with the “bison antiquus”.
 Their smaller-sized horns angled back from the skull.
 During the Ice Age, they migrated west and east
from the Bering Straits.
 Researchers speculate that this species of bison split.
The subspecies of bison occidentalis that exist today are:
Plains Buffalo
(Bison, Bison)
Wood Buffalo
(Bison Athabascae)
Photo by Alan D. Wilson. Photo by Jack Dykinga.

7. Western Expansion
Conflict with civilization and technology.

8. Buffalo in Early America
Most historians put the buffalo numbers beyond count in
early America. This information was largely based on
reports by the Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804-1806).
 Lewis and Clark first reported a herd of 3000 buffalo.
 Later in their travels, they encountered so many larger
herds, they quit counting.
William Clark Meriwether Lewis
Portraits by Charles Willson Peale (1807)

9. The expedition, commissioned by President Thomas
Jefferson, first encountered a large herd of 3000 buffalo
along the Missouri river in 1804.
Image by Victor van Werkhooven (2014).

10. Relationship with the Indians
Originally, the Indians had a symbolistic relationship with the
bison. Hunting buffalo wasn’t easy as the bison could out
run them. Thus they could only kill them in small numbers.
When horses were introduced to North America by Spanish
explorers, American Indians found new ways to hunt buffalo
in larger numbers.
Indians were known for driving buffalo over embankments,
often breaking their legs and immobilizing them to be slain.
Painting. Miller A. (1858-1860), [Image], Hunting Buffalo, Retrieved Nov. 19, 2014, from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Alfred_Jacob_Miller_-_Hunting_Buffalo_-_Walters_371940190.jpg

11. Human and Bison Problems
In the early 1800s, the U.S. population moved west and
problems between bison, Indians, and settlers arose.
 This ignited conflict with the western plain tribes.
 Rifles made it easy to hunt and kill buffalo for sport.
 Ranchers needed grass that buffalo ate for their cattle.
 Farmers’ crops were trampled by freely roaming bison.
 Herds also blocked the efficient movement of trains.
 During the American Indian Wars, the U.S. Government
tried to starve the Indians by exterminating bison.

12. Incompatibility With Civilization
Some of the population change can be attributed to the
civilization’s incompatibility to coexist with bison. Several of
the buffalo’s characteristics and attributes that may have
contributed to their sudden decline are:
 They are hard to fence in.
 They trampled crops.
 They consume the same food sources as cattle.
 They are not easily domesticated.
 The males can be dangerous.

13. Commercially Hunted
Several things that contributed to the Plains Bison being
hunted to near extinction are:
 Buffalo hunters found them easy prey as they could
be shot without alerting the others.
 Hunting buffalo became a sport.
 There was an increased demands for bison products.
 When refrigerated railroad cars entered the scene in
the 1870s, it became much easier to move the meat
and hides back east.

14. Pile of Bison Skulls During the 1870’s
Note. Unknown Author. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bison_skull_pile_edit.jpg
Most bison were killed by hunters. Even Teddy Roosevelt
headed west to shoot one before there were all gone.
However, he later played a major role in their preservation.

15. Evidence of a Problem
Population, disease, and genetic diversity issues.

16. Population Decrease
We know that from the writings of both the Spanish
explorers and the Lewis and Clark Expedition that large
bison populations were very prevalent in early America.
 Bison populations were around 50 thousand in 1500
and 40 thousand in 1830.
 By 1840 bison could no longer be found east of the
Mississippi.
 Historians agree by 1883 the big herds were gone.
 The first survey taken in 1888, reported that only 1300
buffalo remained with 99 percent in North America.
 In 1889, William T. Hornaday put the count at 1091 in a
survey for the Smithsonian Institution (Dary, 1975).
 Today the population of the plains bison in North
America is estimated at over 20,500.

17. Population History
1500 1830 1889 1903 1930 1939 1986
Bison
50,000,000
Bison
40,000,000
Bison
542
Bison
1,644
Bison
4,000
Bison
5,000
Bison
100,000
Note. Adapted from Sample M. (1987, p. 32), [Chart], BISON, Symbol of the American West, Billings and Helena, Montana: Falcon
Press Publishing Co., Inc.

18. Disease: Brucellosis
In 1917, Brucellosis (undulant fever for humans) was first
diagnosed in bison. Although, It did not become a major
concern until the U.S. Government was involved in a
cattle eradication program in the 1960’s. The problem
was due to cattle being grazed in close proximity to the
bison. Research revealed the following:
 Brucellosis results in still born and aborted calves.
 Some buffalo seemed to have built up a resistance.
 Others just remained carriers of the disease.
 At this time there is no treatment in use for bison.

19. Genetic Diversity
The most prominent threat to the bison herds lies with the
current status of their genetics. There are two factors are
attributed to the lack of purebred bison.
1. Crossbreeding with cattle.
2. Inbreeding amongst small purebred herds.
According to Montana.gov, “The genetic integrity and
natural genetic diversity of the species is compromised,
as the introgressed DNA replaces portions of the original
genome (Gates el al., 2010)”.

20. Why Crossbreed?
The primary reason for crossbreeding buffalo with cattle is
to give the meat more flavor. Buffalo meat is very lean
and a cross between the two adds more fat content.
 Crossbreeding began as early as 1888.
 A cross between bison and domestic cattle is cattlo.
 Cattle and bison do not naturally breed unless put in
captivity together.
 Most commercial breeding is done artificially.
 This practice has greatly affected the purity of today’s
bison herds.

21. Laws and Policies
What the states and the government are doing.

22. The American Bison Society
The one organization that really stood out for fostering the
return of the buffalo was the American Bison Society (ABS)
founded in 1905 by conservationists William T. Hornaday and
Theodore Roosevelt.
Working with about 100 buffalo under government control
at the Smithsonian Zoological Park in Washington D.C., the
ABS accomplished three things:
 Organized herds.
 Founded sanctuaries and ranges.
 Lobbied congress for bills that increased the population.
Having great success, the membership declined and they
disbanded in 1935. However, in 2005 the ABS was reinstated
in an effort to preserve the bison populations.

23. Indian Tribal Land
 Until recently the buffalo were not raised in any
numbers on the Indian reservations.
 Other livestock were more common.
 Later Indian tribal governments partnered with the
federal government.
 Buffalo were finally reintroduced to tribal lands.

24. Buffalo Refuges & Sanctuaries
Today most plains bison are relegated to:
 National parks
 Wildlife preserves
 Indian reservations
 Zoos
 Private ranches

25. Entities
Addressing the problem.

26. State and Federal Support
In 2008 the Department of the Interior (USDI) published a
bison conservation initiative guide to managing USDI herds.
 Genetic management is one of its listed efforts.
 It has also chartered a bison conservation and
management working group.
Unfortunately, the USDI has no federal proposals to manage
bison outside U.S. Refuges. Most of the support for buffalo
comes from Montana and Yellowstone National Park.

27. Current Status of Buffalo
 Thanks to private ranches and advances in DNA,
some concerns have been alleviated.
 The public herd at Yellowstone National Park is cattle-
free introgression.
 Testing in 2007 indicated that the bison at Ted Turner’s
Vermejo Park Ranch are free of cattle genes as well.
 Buffalo are no longer listed as threatened on the
endangered species list by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service (USFWS).

28. Plains Bison are considered near-threatened.
According to p. 137 of the Conservation Actions of Government Agencies document
on Montana.gov, “Bison are not listed by the USFWS as a threatened or endangered
species; there is no requirement under the Endangered Species Act for formal bison
restoration (USFS, 2001, pp. 2-14)”.
Note. Adapted from Peter Halasz, [Chart], Retrieved from http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Status_iucn2.3_NT.svg.

29. What Can You Do?
Suggestions/Ideas:
 Make people aware.
 Try to get more federal involvement.
 Write congressmen.
 Join organizations.
 Write articles in magazines and newspapers.
 Donate to private ranches, refuges, and national
parks.

30. Summary
 These great beasts have had a long history dating
back to the Ice Age.
 They have adapted and endured many changes
throughout their existence.
 The two species of bison that exist today have
dramatically returned from near extinction.
 The small populations have survived intact.
 Brucellosis and genetic diversity (lack of purebreds)
are the continuing bison issues of today.
 With assistance from humans, they should flourish in
their purebred form.

31. References
Bierman E. (2012), [Photograph], Retrieved from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bison_antiquus.jpg
Dary D. (1975) The Buffalo Book. Chicago, Illinois: The Swanson Press, Inc.
Dykinga J. (2014), Image Number K5680-1 [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/graphics/photos/k5680-1.htm
John J. (2007), [Photograph], Retrieved from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bison_latifrons_fossil_buffalo.jpg
McDonald J. (1981) North American Bison, Berkeley and Los Angeles, California: University of California Press.
Miller A. (1858-1860), [Image], Hunting Buffalo, Retrieved Nov. 19, 2014, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Alfred_Jacob_Miller_-
Hunting_Buffalo_-_Walters_371940190.jpg
Peale C. (1807), [Image], Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lewis_and_Clark.jpg
Sample M. (1987) BISON, Symbol of the American West, Billings and Helena, Montana: Falcon Press Publishing Co., Inc.
Stephanie A. (2011, June 24) Genetics [PDF]. Retrieved from http://fwp.mt.gov/fishAndWildlife/management/bison/plainsEcology.html
Stephanie A. (2011, June 24) Conservation Actions of Government Agencies [PDF]. Retrieved from
http://fwp.mt.gov/fishAndWildlife/management/bison/plainsEcology.html
Tindall G. and Shi D. (2013) America: A Narrative History, New York, New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.
Werkhooven V. (2014), [Image], Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Carte_Lewis_and_Clark_Expedition.png
Wilson A. (2005), [Photograph], Retrieved from http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bis%C3%B3_de_bosc.jpg