Bison_3

The Bison 3 page contains images taken in Yellowstone’s Lamar and Hayden Valleys,
mostly in autumn. Images include portraits, close portraits, scenics, and behavioral shots.

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Bison 1: Winter, Calves, Roadblocks and Portraits

Bison 2: Bison in Central Yellowstone            Bison 3: Lamar Valley and Hayden Valley

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There are over 165 images in the Bison Gallery.

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Bison Lamar Valley 0509

Bison browsing below a grove of Cottonwoods near Buffalo Ranch in the Lamar Valley.

The Lamar Buffalo Ranch was built in 1907 in an effort to increase the herd size
of the few remaining bison in Yellowstone to prevent the extinction of the species.
Although there were 30 to 60 million buffalo (American Bison) in North America in
the early 1800s, market hunting, poaching and the US Army slaughter campaign
designed to remove the food source for Indians to force them onto reservations
had reduced the population to 23 by 1902, all of which were in Pelican Valley.

The Pelican Valley herd and 71 Bison from Buffalo Ranch moved to central
Yellowstone in 1936 to form the Mary Mountain herd grew to the point
that by 1954, the central herd had expanded to 1300 individuals.

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Bison Lamar Valley 0511

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Bison Lamar Valley 8520

Bison grazing below Cottonwoods near Buffalo Ranch in the Lamar Valley.

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Bison Lamar Valley 0517

The northern herd was created at Fort Yellowstone in 1902 using 18 females from Montana
and three males from Texas in an effort to avoid extinction of the species, and in 1907 these
28 Plains bison (including four new calves) were rounded up and moved to the Lamar Valley.

Buffalo Ranch was created to grow hay to feed these Plains bison which were brought in from
Montana and Texas to augment the Yellowstone herd. The bison grazed freely in summer and were
kept in corrals to help them survive the cold winters. In bad weather the bison were fed hay grown
next to the Lamar River. When their numbers increased, the Park Service culled the herd, and
the ranched bison were added to enhance the growing herd of wild bison. When the herd
had reached 1000 bison in 1952, the bison were released to the open range and some
were used to start or supplement other herds on public and tribal land. Buffalo Ranch
closed in 1952, and the few remaining buildings are used as a field campus by the
Yellowstone Association, where field seminars are held and students are lodged.

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Bison Lamar Valley 0521

Bison grazing in the Cottonwoods below Buffalo Ranch in the Lamar Valley. In the distance,
you can see the Ranger station and some of the remaining buildings of Lamar Buffalo Ranch.

The Yellowstone bison are the oldest and largest public herd in the United States,
and are considered to be the only genetically pure herd of Plains Bison other than
the Henry Mountains bison herd in Utah (which descended from animals brought
from Yellowstone) and the Wind Cave herd (descended from 14 bison donated
by the New York Zoological Society in 1913 and six from Yellowstone in 1916).
The Wood Buffalo National Park herd in Canada and herds derived from it are
hybrids of Plains Bison and Wood Bison based on recent genetic studies. All
other bison are to some extent hybrids of bison and cattle derived from the
hybridization experiments conducted by owners of the 5 foundation herds
in the late 1800s. Of the 500,000 bison in all public and private herds,
15,000 to 25,000 are estimated to be pure-bred rather than hybrid.

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Bison Lamar Valley 0707 16x9

Bison grazing in the Lamar Valley. The Lamar Valley is near the northeast entrance to Yellowstone, and is
accessed either from that entrance or from the road leading past Tower Junction from Mammoth Hot Springs.
The Lamar Valley is home to Bison, Pronghorn, Bears, Elk, Coyotes and Gray Wolves (reintroduced in 1995).

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Bison Lamar Valley 0711

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Bison Lamar Valley 0716

The Lamar Valley is a glacial valley with one of the richest populations of wildlife in North America.

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Bison Lamar Valley 0764 16x9

Bison grazing on the “American Serengeti” (the Lamar Valley is often compared to Africa’s Serengeti).

More scenic images of the Lamar Valley are located in the Wyoming Scenic section,
on the Assorted Yellowstone Scenic and the Rivers and Waterfalls of Yellowstone pages.

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Bison Lamar Valley 8482

A 500mm telephoto closeup of a male Bison browsing in the autumn grass near the Lamar River,
with defocused cottonwoods in the background. The Lamar River used to be called the East Fork of
the Yellowstone River prior to the 1884-85 Geological Survey of the park, when the survey geologist
Arthur Hague named the river and valley after Secretary of the Interior Lucius Lamar. Lamar Valley
was previously named Secluded Valley by the mountain man Osborne Russell, who first entered
the valley in 1834. Osborne Russell later helped to form the government of the state of Oregon.

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There are over 165 images in the Bison Gallery.

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Bison at Rest Lamar Valley 9932

A 200mm telephoto closeup of Bison at rest in the autumn grass near the foothills below
Specimen Ridge, near the confluence of Rose Creek and the Lamar River in the Lamar Valley.

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Bison at Rest Lamar Valley 9946

A 155mm telephoto closeup of Bison resting in the Lamar Valley in autumn.

American Bison are popularly known as Buffalo although they are only distantly related to true buffalo
(the Asian Water Buffalo and African Buffalo) from which the Bison evolved 5 to 10 million years ago.

Bison are the largest terrestrial animal in North America. The current Plains Bison evolved from the
Steppe Bison, some of which crossbred with ancestors of the modern Yak and crossed the Bering
land bridge into North America between 500,000 and 225,000 years ago. Steppe Bison evolved
into Giant Longhorn Bison, which became extinct during the Quaternary Extinction Event in the
late Wisconsin Glaciation 21,000 to 30,000 years ago and were replaced by Bison antiquus,
a smaller species which in turn evolved into Bison occidentalis, the first of the bison to have
horns which pointed upwards. Bison occidentalis evolved into the smaller Bison bison (the
modern species) between 5000 and 10,000 years ago, after the last glacial period of the
Pleistocene Era. Millions of Plains Bison once covered the Great Plains, but they were
hunted to near-extinction in the late 19th century, reduced to a low of 541 individuals.

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Bison Closeup Lamar Valley 8500

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Bison Closeup Lamar Valley 8484

500mm telephoto extreme close-portraits of Bison males in the Lamar Valley in autumn.

The Yellowstone area is the only place in North America where Bison have lived continuously since prehistoric times.
The Yellowstone bison comprise the largest population on public land in the US, and are among the few herds which
have not been crossbred with cattle. In the late 19th century, a group of ranchers gathered together individuals from
the small herds which survived the slaughter in an effort to save the animals from extinction. They crossbred some
bison with cattle, but only the females were fertile and there was no hybrid vigor, so the practice was abandoned.

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Bison Closeup Lamar Valley 8506

A 500mm telephoto extreme close-portrait of a male Bison in the Lamar Valley in autumn.

At the end of the slaughter of millions of Bison in the late 19th century, the population in the
lower 48 states was reduced to an estimated low of 50 individuals, of which 23 were a remnant
of the indigenous herd in Pelican Valley in central Yellowstone. In 1902, 18 females were brought
to northern Yellowstone from a ranch in northern Montana and bred to 3 males brought from Texas.
28 bison were moved from Fort Yellowstone to the Lamar Valley and raised at the Buffalo Ranch,
which was established in 1907 to enhance the wild herd. As the semi-domesticated herd at the
Lamar Buffalo Ranch increased in size, bison were released to the open range to interbreed
with the wild herd. Ranching operations continued until 1952, when NPS policies changed.

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Bison Point of View Lamar Valley 8516

A male bison gazes across the Lamar Valley towards Rose Creek in this 500mm extreme close portrait.

The two breeding herds in Yellowstone (northern and central) now contain an estimated 4600 individuals.
The northern herd, which ranges from the north entrance at Gardiner Montana through the Blacktail Plateau
and into the Lamar Valley contains approximately 3200 bison, and the central herd has about 1400 bison.

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Bison Roadblock Lamar Valley 6008

Male bison blocking the Grand Loop Road in the Lamar Valley at the end of winter in late April.

The bison in Yellowstone often use the roads to travel, and seem to delight in blocking the cars.
They have been known to bump cars with their hips or head, and sometimes kick or charge into
cars or people who get too close, so be very careful around these 2000 pound animals. Bison
can appear docile but they are wild animals and can run at 35 mph, easily outrunning humans.

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Bison Roadblock Hayden Valley 0524

A female bison stands on a skidmark behind a juvenile in the Hayden Valley of central Yellowstone.

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Bison Roadblock at Sunrise North Entrance 0278

A male Bison blocks a car at sunrise in autumn, near the north entrance to Yellowstone National Park.

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There are over 165 images in the Bison Gallery.

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Bison at Sunrise Lamar Valley 0235

A male bison at sunrise in the Lamar Valley in northern Yellowstone National Park.

Male bison are larger than the females. Males can exceed 2000 pounds, while females
are typically about 1100 pounds. Plains Bison are smaller than the Wood Bison of Canada.

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Bison at Sunrise Lamar Valley 0274

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Bison at Sunrise Lamar Valley 0275

200mm telephoto close portraits of a male bison at sunrise in the Lamar Valley.

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Bison at Sunrise Lamar Valley 0278

Bison at sunrise in the Lamar Valley in northern Yellowstone National Park.

Yellowstone bison feed primarily on grasses, sedge and other grass-like plants.

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Bison Lamar Valley 8868

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Bison Lamar Valley 9888

Bison grazing and resting in the Lamar Valley at mid-morning in autumn.

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Bison Lamar Valley 9890

Starlings perched on the back of a Bison in the Lamar Valley in northern Yellowstone.

Starlings and cowbirds pluck insects out of bison fur, and sometimes alight just for the ride.

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Bison Lamar Valley 9909

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Bison Lamar Valley 9913

Bison grazing and resting in the Lamar Valley at mid-morning in autumn.

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Bison Lamar Valley 9926

A lone Bison crosses a sea of grass in Yellowstone’s Lamar Valley in autumn.

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There are over 165 images in the Bison Gallery.

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Bison Fight Lamar Valley 8850

Two male bison fighting in the Lamar Valley in autumn, taken at a significant distance at 600mm.

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Bison Lamar Valley 0866

A male bison standing atop a ridge overlooking the Lamar Valley in autumn.

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Bison Lamar Valley 0873

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Bison Lamar Valley 0877

These telephoto close portraits were taken at 300mm. While it is tempting to approach an
apparently docile Bison closely, and many people with small cameras do, every year there
are several people gored by bison, so it is a good idea to shoot closeups with a long lens.

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Bison Bellow Lamar Valley 8467

A 500mm telephoto closeup of a Bison bellowing in the early morning in the Lamar Valley.

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Bison Wallow Lamar Valley 8472

A bison wallowing in the Lamar Valley in northern Yellowstone in autumn.

Bison wallow for a number of reasons: to remove parasites and biting insects,
to aid in molting from the heavy winter coat to the lighter summer coat, as part of
their social behavior, and sometimes just for the sheer pleasure of rolling in the dirt.

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Bison Wallow Lamar Valley 8474

My dog absolutely loves to roll around in the grass like this, and may have learned it from Bison.

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Bison Wallow Lamar Valley 8476

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Bison Wallow Lamar Valley 8477

During the rut (between July and August), males often wallow as part of their rutting behavior.
Wallowing can also be seen as part of the social behavior for group cohesion at other times.

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Bison Wallow Lamar Valley 8478

A thoroughly contented wallowing Bison lies on his back
and looks at the photographer in the Lamar Valley in autumn.

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There are over 165 images in the Bison Gallery.

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Bison Hayden Valley 0471

A group of Bison walking in the autumn grass, in the Hayden Valley in central Yellowstone.
In the foreground are a female followed by a juvenile, and in the background are two males.

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Bison Female Hayden Valley 0476

A female Bison in the autumn grass in the Hayden Valley of central Yellowstone.

The Hayden Valley is a sub-alpine valley between Yellowstone Falls and Yellowstone Lake.
Named for Ferdinand V. Hayden, whose 1871 geological survey of the Yellowstone region
with painter Thomas Moran and photographer William Henry Jackson were instrumental in
convincing Congress to establish Yellowstone as the first National Park in 1872, the valley
was the natural route to Yellowstone Lake for trappers, explorers and natives traveling the
Yellowstone River. Hayden Valley is one of the premiere wildlife habitats in Yellowstone.

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Bison Hayden Valley 0498

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Bison Hayden Valley 0501

70mm closeups of bison in the Hayden Valley in central Yellowstone National Park.

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Bison Male Hayden Valley 0506

A 70mm close-portrait of a male Bison in the Hayden Valley in central Yellowstone.

The Hayden Valley was once covered by an arm of Yellowstone Lake. It contains fine
lake sediments covered by glacial till left behind during the most recent glacial retreat,
and as water cannot easily percolate through the clay and lake sediment, the valley is
a marshy habitat with few trees. During July and August, the Hayden Valley is the
 location of the largest rut of free-roaming bison in the world. It was the site of
an 1835 mini-rendezvous for trappers led by mountain man Jim Bridger.

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Bison Digging Wallow Hayden Valley 0465

A bison digs a spot to wallow in the dirt in the Hayden Valley in autumn.

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Bison Wallow Hayden Valley 0478

The bison rolls in the dirt and kicks its legs, looking like it was thoroughly enjoying itself.

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Bison Wallow Hayden Valley 0479

A bison ambling past the wallowing individual tastes the dirt kicked up as it walks by.

Wallowing is primarily practiced by adult bison, and except in depressions used as communal
wallows, generally on level areas of bare or exposed coarse soil undisturbed by other animals.

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Bison Wallow Hayden Valley 0483

A bison kicks dirt into the air as it wallows in pleasure in the Hayden Valley in autumn.

Recent studies indicate that bison increase wallowing behavior in autumn due to larval ticks.

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Bison Wallow Hayden Valley 0484

The wallowing bison looks up at a grazing female as she passes by...

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Bison Wallow Hayden Valley 0485

The female and a following juvenile placidly ignore the wallowing bison as he kicks dirt into the air.

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