Baby Bison Bonanza!

Wow, bison calves are like the adorable shaggy puppy of the hooved world aren’t they? Good news for those of you who just shook they’re heads up and down in agreement: about 25 new baby bison are going to enter the world in June of 2013! At least that’s what the experts (who we believe) at Blue Mounds State Park in Minnesota are saying, because in spite of some bad weather, new super cute bison babies are coming into the world almost every day that month! Baby bison also happen to be particularly durable, as they’re born weighing betweeen 40 and 50 pounds with thick coats and the ability to stand up moments after birth. In fact, within minutes of being born, a bison will begin to nurse, and hours later it will be ready to move along with its mommy and the rest of the heard, although it will do so at a much cuter pace. When it grows up, it will be the largest land mammal in North America, standing up to 6 feet high at the shoulder, with a length of almost 10 feet, and a weight between 1,000 and 2,000 pounds! Unfortunately as we all know, there are less than 500,000 bison in the country today (there used to be over 50 million!), making the amazing creature in danger of extinction. However, there are big efforts to conserve and continue the species that have thus far been successful, so we won’t be running out of baby bison to look at anytime soon. One more interesting fact folks, the bison at Blue Mounds have been proven through DNA testing to be nearly identical to those that roamed the country prior to European settlement, with almost no cattle genes mixed in, so they’re even more rare that other rare animals! So if you see a bison up close, smile at how special they are, but until then, enjoy some pictures of baby bison frolicking and cuddling with their moms.