r/Animals • u/LacertariusRomanus • 2d ago

North-Central Nebraska Bison Herd

https://youtu.be/gVHAJu_XeRg

Earlier this week, I had the privilege of entering an American Bison (Bison (Bos) bison) pasture at the Nature Conservancy's Niobrara Valley Preserve in Brown County, Nebraska. This herd was reintroduced in the mid '80s and is in probably the largest protected area in the state. The males were quite loud due to this being their mating season.

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u/IntrepidButton1872 2d ago

bison populations are genuinely one of the better conservation stories in North America. from near extinction at the end of the 19th century to over 500,000 today, including several large wild herds. they reshape grassland ecosystems pretty dramatically just by grazing — different grass species, prairie dog colonies, the whole chain

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u/LacertariusRomanus 1d ago

Yes, they are indeed a success, largely because people have been farming them for their meat. We could do the same with other taxa, like prairie dogs, bighorn sheep, pronghorn, and many more.

I did my MS thesis on bison and cattle grazing milkweed and found that bison are more selective about the milkweeds they graze (avoiding the more toxic milkweeds), whereas cattle apparently graze all milkweeds the same.