07/30/2024 | Ren Lashley, Museum Day Camp Educator at The Museum of the Grand Prairie
Many people use the words ‘bison’ and ‘buffalo’ interchangeably to refer to bison in America, though the proper term would be bison! The Old World concept of a buffalo comes from the creature native to Africa and Asia, called the Cape buffalo and water buffalo respectively. Cape buffalo horns look like a handlebar mustache, while a water buffalo’s horns are curved in a large crescent. The American bison horns are typically much shorter than a buffalo’s and much sharper, giving them the distinct look we associate with the bison.
Bison have large humps at their shoulders that buffalo do not have, and larger heads than buffalo. They also have coats that they shed in the spring and thick beards, while the buffalo is unable to grow such magnificent facial hair. Buffalo are larger and weigh more, getting up to 3,000 pounds (about half the weight of an elephant) while bison can only reach 2,000 pounds.
Historians believe the name confusion arose when French fur trappers, familiar with the true buffaloes of Africa and Asia, encountered bison and used the French word 'boeuf,' meaning 'beef' or 'ox.
Before European settlers arrived, there were an estimated 30-60 million bison in the Great Plains, which included parts of Illinois. For thousands of years, many Indigenous communities relied on bison as a main resource, using their meat for food, hides for clothing and lodging coverings, bones for tools, and tendons for rope. The bison held spiritual reverence too, and their remains were used in religious ceremonies and rituals.
Due to overhunting by settlers and loss of their habitat, the bison became critically endangered, dropping to only 542 bison across the country in 1889. Today, through the efforts of Indigenous organizations, conservationists, and farmers, the bison population is slowly making a comeback. The National Bison Association reports that in 2022, there were nearly 400,000 bison in the U.S., half residing on private ranches and 30,000 in conservation-focused herds.
The Yellowstone National Park is home to an estimated 6,000 bison and operates a transfer program to help return bison back to Indigenous communities, giving away 414 since 2019. While not anywhere close to the tens of millions that used to roam the Great Plains, these climbing numbers have stabilized the population and pulled the bison off the endangered species list!
Because of the lack of their natural habitat, bison in Illinois can only be found in farms and nature preserves. Nature preserves in Illinois like Nachusa Grasslands in Franklin Grove, and Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie in Wilmington, play a crucial role in conserving the species and educating the public about the historical and cultural significance of bison.
Image Source: Fermilab.