(C) ShareAmerica This story was originally published by ShareAmerica and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . How the bison became the U.S. national mammal [1] ['Charles Hoskinson'] Date: 2025-09-02 10:00:00+00:00 At some point in the late 19th century Americans fell in love with bison — the massive, shaggy animals sometimes called buffaloes. Millions of bison lived in herds across the vast grasslands in the center of the United States, from the Canadian border south to Texas and east all the way into Virginia, but their numbers were diminishing as hunters killed them for their hides. By the end of the 19th century, they were close to extinction. Since then, bison numbers have recovered. What’s more, Americans have added their images to U.S. state flags (Wyoming); official state seals (Indiana, Kansas and North Dakota); the seal for the federal Department of the Interior; and coins. Bison statuary across the country includes imposing sculptures on the Dumbarton Bridge in Washington, in Chicago’s Humboldt Park and on a hill overlooking Jamestown, North Dakota. “It’s striking to me how often groups of Americans pick the buffalo as the symbol of ourselves,” says Michael Punke, author of Last Stand, a book about the battle to save the American bison from extinction. Bison are “survivors,” says Steven Sarro, in way of explanation. Sarro, a curator emeritus at the Smithsonian Institution’s Washington National Zoo, notes that a pair of bison brought from Montana a decade ago have become one of the most popular attractions at the zoo. Full circle The history of the National Zoo and bison are intertwined. In 1886, Smithsonian taxidermist William Temple Hornaday traveled to Montana to collect bison specimens and was shocked to see how few of them were left alive. And he was not alone. “It was as if some titanic sound that reached to the heavens had stopped just at the moment that we turned to listen to it,” says Dan Flores, referring to this time, when Americans began to show real appreciation for bison just as herds were in such danger. “It was a shock to many people,” says Flores, a professor emeritus of western history at the University of Montana. Hornaday, the taxidermist, after realizing the at-risk state of bison herds, arranged to bring live bison to the National Mall in Washington to display. He used the stunt to urge Congress to create a zoo, which it did in 1889. The bison became one of the National Zoo’s foundational exhibits. Meanwhile, throughout the 1880s, showman Buffalo Bill Cody, a former wilderness scout and famed hunter, featured live bison in his Wild West show as it toured through America and Europe. His shows increased the perception of the bison being an iconic animal tied to the American West. As more people saw North America’s largest land mammal up close, conservation efforts by men like George Bird Grinnell grew. Then-President Theodore Roosevelt became a bison booster — he helped form the American Bison Society in 1905 and urged Congress to set aside land for the preservation of the herds. It would take another century for Congress in 2016 to pass legislation making the bison the national mammal. There are now some 400,000 bison roaming the American grasslands. Roosevelt’s wish “to keep alive the noble and beautiful creatures which by their presence add such distinctive character to the American wilderness” has been fully realized. [END] --- [1] Url: https://share.america.gov/how-bison-became-us-national-mammal/ Published and (C) by ShareAmerica Content appears here under this condition or license: Public Domain. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/shareamerica/