Back in May, Congress approved designating the American bison as our national mammal. The largest land animal in North America’s journey to becoming an official national symbol took six years of work from between the Wildlife Conservation Society and our lawmakers. On Tuesday, the designation became official.
Tens of millions of bison, also known as buffalo, once thundered across a range stretching from central Canada through the Great Plains and northern Mexico. After a century-long slaughter driven by commercial hunting for buffalo pelts, the population dwindled to a thousand or fewer by the late 1800s.
About 30,000 wild bison now roam the country, with the largest population in Yellowstone National Park. Bison also are scattered in public, tribal and private lands in the U.S. and Canada.
The ceremony which was held on Tuesday was set to coincide with the month of November which is Native American Month, and the first Saturday of the month—National Buffalo Day.