Bison and Lake Yellowstone

I'm going to get the bragging rights over with first. We've hiked 26+ miles in the last 8 days. So the energy and time needed to blog hasn't been available.

While I work on those hikes, pictures and details I thought I'd bring in the Yellowstone Buffalo (or Bison) since their rutting season is over and it's time for the Elk to have a go now.

As we entered Yellowstone in August Bob took this picture of the landscape. It's been 28 years since the big, whole park fire in 1988, and you can still see the trees either standing or littering the landscape all around. I guess the dry air out here really helps preserve the wood from rotting out.

This is the edge of Lake Yellowstone.

Here is a female bison with a fairly new calf. The moms stay pretty close to the herd and the young stay close in for protection.  The calves born in late August or later are less likely to make it through the winter with the wolves and tough conditions.

These little calves are called "red dogs" until they get old enough to get the heavier, darker coat.








Bob got some great close-ups this year. This is an example of the female. Less fur around the head and weight is about half of the male and tops out at about 1,000 lbs.

There is always an older female that leads the herd around after the males leave.

This male can get up to 2,000 lbs and has a larger head with more fur. The reason the heads are so large is they use them as a pendulum to sweep back and forth in the snow when foraging to find food.

And here is a perfect example of the male and female together. After the rut (mating season), the males generally leave the herd to live alone in loosely scattered groups all around the park.

The bison that leave the park are rounded up and held in pens and usually used to increase outside herds on ranches and as a meat source for local restaurants.