Bison

We have discussed pocket turtles amongst our group in the past. Every one has that thing that they love, that thing that makes them quirky. Some of us love model airplanes. Some of us love, well, turtles. And some of us love bison. The American Buffalo.

I would not consider myself a buffalo lover. I like buffalo well enough. Whenever I am near a bison (is that grammatically correct?), I feel awed, and a little scared if I’m honest. Those things are massive. They would easily be able to destroy a car if they wanted to. There’s a wildlife preserve in Oklahoma that my dad has taken me to a few times where bison and long-horn cattle roam free as you drive around. The American version of an African Safari. It was one of the coolest and most terrifying moments of my life.

But I digress. Though I admire buffalo, I do not intend to make them my life’s mission. But luckily, someone else already has. As I’m sure you are aware, the increasing urbanization of the United States has stolen the habitat of the American Buffalo. In addition, they were hunted for quite some time, as their meat was (is. I can attest to this) quite delicious. Their hide is useful in leather production as well.

Allaboutbison.com (Tagline: All bison, all the time!) has taken the liberty of tracking historical mentions about bison. To them, buffalo are extremely important. To me, I would have never thought of buffalo as an item of historical note. But they clearly are. They clearly matter to someone. The same is in local history stories. Someone may one day be interested in the fact that Ft. Riley, Kansas’ dog park used to be where they housed buffalo. Buffalo are important to some. It just fascinates me. And makes me wonder what random thing in my current life may one day be interesting to others in the future.