Table Of ContentROAD TO RECOVERY
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21st
Century
Skills Library
ROAD TO RECOVERY
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Barbara A. Somervill
Cher r y Lake Publishing
Ann Ar bor, Michigan
Published in the United States of America by Cherry Lake Publishing
Ann Arbor, MI
www.cherrylakepublishing.com
Content Adviser: Dr. Cormack Gates, Co-Chair (North America) IUCN (International
Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) Bison Specialist Group;
Coordinator, Environmental Science Program, Faculty of Environmental Design,
University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Photo Credits: Page 19, Photo courtesy of Library of Congress; page 22, © Raymond
Gehman/Corbis
Map by XNR Productions, Inc.
Copyright ©2008 by Cherry Lake Publishing
All rights reserved. No part of the book may be reproduced or utilized in any
form or by any means without written permission from the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Somervill, Barbara A.
American bison / by Barbara A. Somervill.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN-13: 978-1-60279-031-5 (hardcover)
ISBN-10: 1-60279-031-0 (hardcover)
1. American bison—Juvenile literature. 2. Endangered species—Juvenile literature. I. Title.
QL737.U53S665 2008
599.64'3—dc22 2007003871
Cherry Lake Publishing would like to acknowledge the work of
The Partnership for 21st Century Skills.
Please visitwww.21stcenturyskills.org for more information.
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C H A P T E R O N E
Roundup! 4
C H A P T E R T W O
The Story of American Bison 9
C H A P T E R T H R E E
Endangered! 15
C H A P T E R F O U R
The Road to Recovery 21
C H A P T E R F I V E
American Bison Today 25
Map 29
Glossary 30
For More Information 31
Index 32
About the Author 32
CHAPTER ONE
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I
t is an early, frosty October morning. Horses snort and stamp, anxious
to be on their way. Local ranchers, park employees, and veterinarians are
about to start four days of demanding work. The bison roundup will soon
be under way at Badlands National Park in South Dakota.
A single plains bison grazes in South Dakota’s Badlands National Park.
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The park is a maze of deep canyons, rugged mountains, and
multicolored ribbons of soil. Ridges, mounds, valleys, and curving
streambeds carve the stark, beautiful landscape. The park’s mixed-grass
prairie is ideal for plains bison. And this is what the roundup is all
about—bison.
Although this is a natural home for plains bison, they have not lived in
this area continuously. Plans were made to reintroduce bison here in the
1960s. In 1963, four animal species arrived at Badlands to “repopulate” the
park: black-footed ferrets, bighorn sheep, swift foxes, and American bison.
The experiment was a remarkable success. Today, more than 1,000 bison
live in the park, and they continue to produce healthy young. However,
the park can support only so many bison. Now some need to be captured
and relocated.
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In a narrow canyon, a half dozen bison browse on tufts of grass. Bison
thrive on native grasses andsedges. As the cowboys approach on horseback,
the bison snort and stamp. They cluster together. Then, as the horses edge
Bison eat a variety of prairie grasses.
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around them, the bison stampede toward the canyon’s entrance. The
cowboys herd the bison into pens and through narrow passages, where the
veterinarians can examine them closely. Watch it! Those horns are sharp,
and the bison don’t particularly enjoy the process.
This roundup brings 657 bison in for medical exams and shots for
various diseases. The veterinarians also draw blood to determine each
animal’s genetic makeup. Today, there are very few 100 percent pure bison.
Most bison are a mix of bison and cattle. Maintaining herds of purebred
bison is important for keeping the bison species healthy.
After the roundup, the park makes arrangements to ship 278 of these
animals to six different states and several different Native American tribes.
The bison will join herds belonging to the Oglala Sioux and the Santee
Sioux, among others.
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The process of cutting out specific animals from
earning
I
&
nnovation a herd is called culling, and culling is necessary to
Skills
American bison are
keep herds healthy. A well-managed herd, even one
not buffalo. The word
buffalo was apparently
first used to describe the that lives wild, needs to have a balance of males
North American animal
in 1635. People have
and females and a mix of ages. The 2006 bison
continued to use it
incorrectly ever since.
American bison have roundup helped to balance the Badlands herd. It also
been called buffalo
for so long that even
provided a mix of healthy beasts to fill other herds
the 1913 nickel was
nicknamed the “buffalo
nickel.” The model for onreservations in the prairie states.
the tails side of the
nickel was a bison
named Black Diamond,
a resident of the Bronx
Zoo in New York City.
Do you think it’s more
important to use the
true or historical name?
Why or why not?
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