Get involved!
More coming…..
Free to download: Match the correct letter to the Part.pdf
Free to download or print: Bison Bull Coloring.pdf
Free to download Word Scrambles:
Words that relate to Bison History, kids can unscramble these words and use them in a sentence. Either as a lesson after reading David Dary’s book or as a learning game. Your imagination is limitless. Select the words you want according to age.
Words to unscramble
You can go to any page and pull information for a lesson you want to create, if you want help, just ask me. I’m always available. SiteMap Some of the pages I most enjoyed creating are: “What was the bison used for” and “Natives” our early explorers give us a small insight into how they lived and used nature for the benefit. When I read John Adair’s journal and I thought it was interesting to note that the southern Tribes had an affinity for the colors ‘red and white’ and placed the Bison and Eagle on a special platform. Today our flag is red, white, and blue and the Eagle represents Freedom, while the Bison is our National Mammal. Do you think our founding fathers learned this from the Natives?
Crossword Puzzle– Illinois Bison Relations – Nature Museum
There now are several kids books out on the market, this was not the case just a short time ago. Teachers and States are getting their kids involved with bison and how they lived in history, contributed to the ecosystem, Natives, and new settlers. If there is anything you can’t find or would like to see, just shoot me a message and I will be glad to help.
” I was drawn to this book as soon as I seen it” -RF
For the older kids, Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game has put out a great Bison Quiz in a pdf. Bison Identification Guide:
Male Bison and Female Characteristics: Head Shape, Horn Bases, Tracks and more
Do you know how to spot the difference? Cows or Bulls and how old are they?
Alaska Fish and Game Bison Identification Quiz.pdf
“Sometimes it is just not realistic to determine the sex of a bison. Take your time, be patient, get into a better
position, and utilize all the characteristics. Sometimes bison will gather in single sex groups. You will then lose your ability to compare relative characteristics between sexes. Don’t assume that because an animal is the largest out of the group that it is a bull, or that the smallest is a cow. Many bison of the wrong sex have been shot this way.”
The American Bison, is our ONLY native grazer. They have been an integral part in the development of the early settlers and the Native Tribes. The Natives in the plain states relied heavily on the bison for food , materials for clothing, homes, and tools. While early settlers used them for food and a warm winters robe. Eventually they were wanted for their hides and tongues, which led to their near demise. Had it not been for a handful of private ranchers who had their own herds, they would be gone forever. With the historic ranchers and the help of W. Hornaday and President Roosevelt and several others, who started the creation of “National Parks.” The Government secured the land and animals from these ranches to keep them safe. All of the Bison we have today come from the actions of those people in history.
They are a huge part of the natural ecosystem. Providing ‘buffalo chips’ to the soil and critters. They carry seeds of plants and trees in their wool and stomach to other places. Birds use their wool for their nest. Some Birds like Cowbirds follow the Bison and feed off the insects they stir up and carry.
Hunter gathering buffalo chips
Buffalo Chips, provided fuel for fires on the woodless plains. Natives used them for an absorbent material in diapers, ceremonial purposes and fuel. Early settlers depended on them for fire fuel to keep warm and to cook. Buffalo chips also carry seeds from plants like grasses that the buffalo eat, and then they sprout and grow, wherever the buffalo leave it.
One of my favorite all-time books. (books can be found on Amazon)
The Buffalo Book: The Full Saga Of The American Animal
The journals and memoirs of 19th century explorers and travelers in the American West often told of viewing buffalo massed together as far as the eye could see. This book appropriately covers the subject of the buffalo as extensively as that animal covered the plains. Other recent accounts of the buffalo have focused on two or three aspects, emphasizing its natural history, the hunters and the hunted in prehistoric time, the relationship between the buffalo and the American Indian. David Dary’s treatment stretches from horizon to horizon. Of course he discusses the origin of the buffalo in North America, its locations and migrations, its habits, its significance and role in both Indian and white cultures, its near demise, its salvation. But more. Dary weaves throughout his fact-filled book fascinating threads of lore and legend of this animal that literally helped mold who and what America is. Further, in addition to detailing the extinction which almost befell this mythic beast and the attempts to give life again to the herds, Dary concentrates significant attention on the buffalo as part of 20th century America in terms of captivity, husbandry, and symbol.
The Buffalo Book rounds up all the contemporary buffalo. Dary has located just about every single buffalo alive today in the United States. He has visited or corresponded with everyone who raises a private or government herd, small or large. He maps their location, size, purpose, future. There are even some instructions about how to raise buffalo if one is so inclined. For the gourmet, The Buffalo Book provides a number of recipes, such as Sweetgrass Buffalo and Beer Pie or Buffalo Tips a la Bourgogne. From the buffalo nickel to Wyoming’s state flag, from The University of Colorado’s mascot to Indiana’s state seal, we picture and use the buffalo in hundreds of ways; Dary surveys the 19th and 20th century symbol adaptation of the animal.
A more recently published book that I found very insightful.
“The Ecological Buffalo: On the Trail of a Keystone Species” by Wes Olson and as added bonus all images were photographed by Johane Janelle.
An expert on the buffalo tells the history of this keystone species through extensive research and beautiful photographs.
The mere mention of the buffalo instantly brings to mind the vast herds that once roamed the North American continent, and few wild animals captivate our imaginations as much as the buffalo do. Once numbering in the tens of millions, these magnificent creatures played a significant role in structuring the varied ecosystems they occupied. For at least 24,000 years, North American Indigenous Peoples depended upon them, and it was the abundance of buffalo that initially facilitated the dispersal of humankind across the continent.
With the arrival of Europeans and their rapacious capacity for wildlife destruction, the buffalo was all but exterminated. In a span of just thirty years during the mid-1800s, buffalo populations plummeted from more than 30 million to just twenty-three. And with them went all of the intricate food webs, the trophic cascades, and the inter-species relationships that had evolved over thousands of years.
Despite this brush with extinction, the buffalo survived, and isolated populations are slowly recovering. As this recovery proceeds, the relationships the animals once had with thousands of species are being re-established in a remarkable process of ecological healing. The intricacy of those restored relationships is the subject of this book.
Based on author Wes Olson’s thirty-five years of working intimately with bison―and featuring Johane Janelle’s stunning photography―The Ecological Buffalo is a story that takes the reader on a journey to understand the myriad connections this keystone species has with the Great Plains.