Bison

The Bison is the largest land animal in North America and once ranged from northern Canada to Mexico. Prior to European settlement, there were an estimated 30-200 million bison in North America, but due to aggressive hunting practices, there were only a few thousand bison left near the end of the 19th centuryPBS: [http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/buffalo/ American Buffalo: Spirit of a Nation.

The Plains Indians ranged over a geographical area from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains and from Canada in the north Texas in the south. The Arapaho, Blackfeet, Cheyenne, Crow, Kiowa and Sioux were all nomadic tribes and relied heavily on hunting buffalo. They also lived in portable skin tents (tipis).

The Arikara, Mandan, Osage and Pawnee were semi nomadic tribes. They spent part of every year in fixed villages where they raised crops. For the rest of the year they went on hunting trips for buffalo and lived in tipis.

Every part of the buffalo was used. They provided them with food (meat), shelter (buffalo skin tipi covers), clothing (hide robes), fuel (dried buffalo dung), tools (horn spoons and bone hide scrapers), weapons (buffalo hide shields and bow strings) and equipment (ropes and rawhide envelopes for storing food). They also used hoofs to make glue, they turned bones into ornaments and buffalo tails became a fly swish.

It is little wondor why the Native Americans hold the bison as a revered and sacred animal. Their live revolved around this majestic animal and a great deal of the Native American lore involves the bison.

Although the two words are often used interchangably, bison are not buffalo. Bison are more closely related to goats and cattle than to the Asian and African buffalo. Bison can be distinguished from buffalo by their shoulder hump and are heavier and squatter than buffalo.National Park Service: Bison at Wind Cave National Park

• National Bison Association: Books About Bison

• Amazon.com: Bison Merchandise

• CafePress: Bison T-Shirts and Gifts