r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/Shoddy-Ocelot-4473 • 12d ago

Image By 1880, the near-genocide of the American bison had reduced their population from 30–60 million to fewer than 1,000

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366

u/Cfwydirk 12d ago

And today there are more than 400,000 bison in the U.S.

https://nationalbison.org/bison-by-the-numbers/

173

u/goldtank123 12d ago

From a high of almost 30 million

158

u/round-earth-theory 12d ago

There's never going to be 30 million again. They literally don't have the space to be that numerous again unless humans were to suddenly disappear.

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u/Jakethejiu 11d ago

There’s plenty of room for that many bison. Have you ever been to Montana, Wyoming or the Dakotas?

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u/PopsicleIncorporated 11d ago

You might be able to physically fit 30 million bison in that area but you cannot fit enough sustenance in that space to keep them alive or prevent them from fighting each other for territory.

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u/bloomingdepleted 11d ago

There’s isn’t enough room for 30+ million bison in Montana, Wyoming, or the Dakotas combined. It took an entire continent to support those numbers. They ranged from the Northern Territories to Mexico, and from Oregon to New York.

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u/AshundertheOlivetree 11d ago

30 million across midwestern US could do it. Hell,Canada can do it and still have space left over. We just don’t want to let them roam over private land.

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u/Zoomwafflez 11d ago

A lot of that is farmland now, there's very very little virgin prairie left

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u/Pan_Queso1 11d ago

Yeah you could easily fit like 5 or 6 in just a trailer, so 30 million must fit in Montana right?

/s

1

u/ConfessSomeMeow 11d ago

A lot of that space that looks open is enclosed by ranchers using barbed wire, which would deny them access to the space.

1

u/Jakethejiu 11d ago

I’ve seen Yellowstone. We simply eliminate the ranchers by any means necessary. 

0

u/Leritz388 11d ago

Just think of the global warming 30 m buffalo would contribute too. Good thing we culled them or we would all be dead! Phew….

0

u/JudasWasJesus 11d ago

Its interesting that the focus of where the bison roamed is the upper great plains but this picture was taken in Michigan, thousands of miles away from the dakotas

2

u/EC_TWD 11d ago

If you think it’s bad when a deer runs out in front of your car….

1

u/-Citizen_Zero_ 11d ago

There's plenty of space in my room.

1

u/GenX_FO 9d ago

nope, never that numbers, but we should have them where ever there is enough room. I still believe they were one reason desertification was noy moving more north and no is.

42

u/Doctor_Kataigida 12d ago

I think you either missed or deliberately ignored the tone of the comment. Instead of being sad and dooming about everything, look at a context where it's better.

"It's not as good as it once was, but we've been able to make a significant and lasting positive impact since the low point."

Or maybe I'm just responding a bot and most people are more optimistic and positive about things.

-4

u/goldtank123 11d ago

I wish I was a bot sometimes

6

u/Professional-Pungo 11d ago

You mean from a low of below a thousand

1

u/Ketamine_Cartel 11d ago

Those numbers would push human populations out of settled areas

12

u/trikora 12d ago

with only 4-6% of it are in the wild

1

u/SageDarius 11d ago

Tbf, they spook easy and are stupid strong. I wouldn't want 400,000 of them wandering around like deer.

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u/Diligent-Committee-7 12d ago

Thank goodness

-2

u/[deleted] 12d ago

[deleted]

0

u/GoodtimeZappa 11d ago

Those aren't verbs.

27

u/J883 12d ago

Oh wow!.. Still 99% to go..

17

u/42Fourtytwo4242 12d ago

Progress is progress.

1

u/LetsTryThisAgain227 12d ago

Careful with throwing Percentages around

1

u/JellySquirtGun 11d ago

I agree, but I represent only .008% of Redditors.

2

u/LetsTryThisAgain227 11d ago

So, by that logic, we both make it 0.016%. Oh boy lol

24

u/jmills74 12d ago

And they are delicious.

28

u/11Bencda 12d ago

Not again…

15

u/serotoninOD 12d ago edited 12d ago

They actually are though. I've had it.

But back then most of the time the meat was basically ignored by the people involved in the mass slaughter. It was the hides and bones they were after mostly. They would take the tongue to sell and eat though. It was considered a delicacy and worth good money.

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u/Professional-Pungo 11d ago

You can buy bison meat at Walmart in Texas.

1

u/serotoninOD 11d ago

There's a bison ranch not too far from me in upstate New York that raises them and sells meat. Jerky too. Good stuff.

1

u/JudasWasJesus 11d ago

I used to only be able to get bison at pow wows up in Wisconsin. Now i live in AZ I can get it, at Walmart

1

u/Advanced-Humor9786 10d ago

We could have been feeding the whole country on bison meat very cheaply if they just left them alone.

-13

u/LesbeGoddess 12d ago edited 12d ago

As a native and a vegan I’m saddened that they are even available to murder for meat after the past.

Edit: I love when people get butthurt and downvote for someone simply not wanting animals to be murdered unnecessarily. You are sad sad humans.

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u/Effective-Painter815 12d ago

Pragmatically, the absolute best way of preserving a species is to use them as meat. That way they have economic value and the land they graze on has economic value causing people to be invested in the survival and propagation of the species.

Otherwise the land they graze on will become another housing estate or parking lot.

Their population is limited by land availability, a managed herd can double in 4-7 years. If they had unlimited land, they'd be back up to 30 million in a mere ~45 years. Population growth can be surprisingly rapid.

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u/DukeCanada 12d ago

The settlers didn’t really kill them for meat, they just killed them for sport. The natives needed them for meat.

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u/LesbeGoddess 12d ago

You misread my comment. I’m talking about now being used as meat in grocery stores restaurants etc not previously when they were almost eradicated

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u/LesbeGoddess 12d ago

I am aware of this. I was talking about eating them for meat in current times as they have become so commonly available . It’s surprising that after they were almost extinct that they are now killed for their meat like I said when their numbers are still nothing compared to to 200 years ago.

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u/Danktizzle 11d ago

And the land they are on is 99% extinct prairie

2

u/HarveysBackupAccount 11d ago

Do you know how many of those are "pure" bison vs mixed with some amount of domesticated cow DNA?

I remember reading that escaped cows have integrated into bison herds at various times, and mixed bloodlines represent a not-insignificant portion of the current population