Tracy Harris Gallery
Title: Buffalo
By: Tracy Harris, San Diego
Size: 48" x 36"
Medium: Hand-Painted Silk
Silk: 10mm, 100% Habotai silk.
This painting is a one-of-a kind.
Buffalo, Silk Painting, Tracy Harris, San Diego, CA, 48 x 36
History - Yellowstone is the only place in the lower 48 states to have a continuously free-ranging bison population since prehistoric times. In the 1800s, market hunting, sport hunting, and the US Army nearly caused the extinction of the bison.
By 1902, poachers reduced Yellowstone’s small herd to about two dozen animals. The US Army, who administered Yellowstone then, protected these bison from further poaching. Bison from private herds augmented the native herd.
For decades, bison were intensively managed due to belief that they, along with elk and pronghorn, were over-grazing the park.
By 1968, intensive manipulative management (including herd reductions) of bison ceased.
Buffalo - Bison
Fun Facts - Growing up in Eastern Idaho I visited Yellowstone Park often, I would always look forward to seeing the bison. I often wondered how many bison lived in the Park.
Here is some facts and answers
- Estimated at 4,900 in July 2015. This includes two sub-populations in Yellowstone: northern (3,600) and central (1,300).
- Male (bull) weighs up to 2,000 pounds, female (cow) weighs up to 1,000 pounds.
- May live 12–15 years, a few live as long as 20 years.
- Feed primarily on grasses and sedges.
- Mate in late July through August; give birth to one calf in late April or May.
- Can be aggressive, are agile, and can run up to 30 miles per hour.