Bison Herds Never End in Yellowstone

Q: What did the father buffalo say to his son when he went off to college?
A: Bi-son!

Our son shared this joke with us throughout our journey in Yellowstone National Park. Were we tired of it? Kinda, until we realized that every. single. time. he told the joke, within two minutes a Bison or other animal sighting would appear.

We decided to start creating our own animal jokes to add to the charm and it worked.

Our first amazing Bison sighting was shortly after we left our first cabin in Mammoth Hot Springs to travel South to our next cabin destination at Lake Yellowstone. The sun was just starting to rise adding a slight tint of white to the shadows of blues and the slight dusting of fog hanging around. I drove our car around a corner to find two Bison walking in our direction in the other lane of traffic on our two-lane roadway. As I slowly passed with my window rolled down, they seemed to swallow my car in height.

They are massive beasts with their large heads, hump back, and two horns. Their legs are so skinny in comparison with their high heeled hoofed sound on the pavement. With their eyes so far apart due to their enlarged head, they stop frequently to turn their head sideways, as if they can not see forward. But at the same time, they will run full speed ahead in a Bison chase when a Bull is too close to a Cow that has been taken. Males have the large, thick heads while the Females have the thinner shaped frame. The above two pictures are females.

Bison make noise.  A lot of noise. Sticking out their blue tongue creating a fog horn sound combined with grunts.  Take a look at this video with no zoom-setting shot by my daughter from the backseat.

The Hayden Valley of Yellowstone is a sure find in Bison Herd watching. Hundreds scatter the landscape; in groups and in solo formation. They walk when they want and where they want.  Never mind the pileup of cars  stopped in the middle of the lanes to photograph and just wait their turn to continue forward; the Bison will just walk between as if the cars were not even present.

Never get out of your vehicle to stand close to a Bison or to get that next perfect close-up shot. There are signs posted along the two lane road reminding human visitors that Bison do charge and will gourd any threats. To prevent this unfortunate mishap, it is best to allow them the right-of-way in all circumstances.

Have you ever seen a Bison roll-over?  No one has because they can not.  Their humps are too huge and spinal cords would be damaged, if not crushed, if the feat were ever successful.  Instead, the Bison will roll in one direction to it's shoulder blade, and then get up, and turn around, and roll the other direction to it's shoulder blade. Once completed, they are a dirty breed who will explode clouds of dust as they shake off.

Massive, shedding, dusty, dirty animals that look like half pig-face and cow-body, comical in their noises and constant talk, unpredictable, always intriguing to witness ... Bison became a top favorite sighting at Yellowstone.

Q: Who is the Vice President of the Buffalo national government? 
A: Joe Bison!