Wild Memories Photography Tours

Bison are the animal most closely associated with Yellowstone mostly because they make up the largest and oldest bison herd in the United States. Yellowstone bison are considered plains bison but they differ from typical plains bison primarily in the size of the male’s head. Many of the Yellowstone bison females and young migrate out of the park to lower elevations in the winter. Some stay in the lower elevations of the park, especially the large headed males as they can use their heads to move snow off the grass to feed.

The scientific name of bison is Bison bison. I mention that because many people refer to them as buffalo. They are not true buffalo like water buffalo and Cape buffalo. They live on different continents and are in a different genus.

When male bison go into rut they can be both comical and quite dangerous. I am way more afraid of a bison than I am of a grizzly bear, not that I would like to be alone with either. Bison hurt more people in Yellowstone than any other animal.

I said I thought they were comical when they come into rut. I love to see male bison with half a sage bush or a pine limb on their horns. I have always figured that aggression was directed towards a bush either because they were frustrated or the nearest bull was tougher than them. I love watching them following a female in heat. The males remind me of puppy dogs that are being guided by an invisible leash and will do what ever the female says. That isn’t always true though and sometimes they are tough on the calves who usually look really confused.

Male bison can become extremely territorial and protective of their females during the rut, so much so that they fight each other. One of their most common methods of fighting is by butting heads. These can be extremely violent collisions where one or both of the combatants rear legs come off the ground and can end in injuries so serious one or both combatants die.