Rare white bison born in Yellowstone National Park

A rare white bison was spotted in Yellowstone National Park this month, and since then, wildlife watchers have been trying to catch a glimpse of it again.

Photographer Erin Braaten photographed the young calf on June 4, as a group of bison crossed a road with traffic stopped, according to Amy Beth Hanson of the Associated Press (AP). “I was totally, totally stunned,” she told the publication.

“It was so amazing. I thought I would have a better chance of capturing Bigfoot than a baby white bison,” Braaten told BBC News’ Max Matza and Madeline Halpert.

White buffalo calves are sacred to a number of Native American tribes, including the Sioux, Cherokee, Navajo, Lakota, and Dakota.

“There are prophecies about little white buffalo being born in a time of great change,” says Jason Baldes, an Eastern Shoshone tribal member and executive director of the Wind River Tribal Buffalo Initiative. National geographicIt is Jason Bittel. “We have stories of Eastern Shoshone hunting and pursuing white bison or white buffalo over a century ago.”

Chief Arvol Looking Horse, spiritual leader of the Lakota, Dakota and Nakota Oyate in South Dakota, told BBC News that the calf’s birth is “a blessing and a warning.”

“I’m so overwhelmed. It’s a miracle,” he adds.

White animals can be leucistic, appearing mostly or partially white and having normal or dark eyes, or albino, appearing almost entirely white and having light eyes, according to the AP’s Christina Larson. Albino animals do not produce melanin, a pigment responsible for color, while leucistic animals only produce some pigmentation.

The newborn calf has a black nose and eyes, so it is not albino, Jim Matheson, executive director of the National Bison Association, told the AP.

A baby white buffalo named Miracle was born on a farm in Janesville, Wisconsin, in 1994, according to the National Park Service (NPS). Previously, no white calf birth had been known since 1933. Another white calf was born in 2012 in Avon, Minnesota, but only survived a few weeks. Last year, Bear River State Park in Wyoming saw the birth of another white bison. This animal’s coloring likely comes from bovine genes mixed into its lineage rather than albinism or leucism, and its mother is also a pale white shade.

Before 1800, between 30 and 100 million bison lived in the Great Plains and formed the basis of the economy of some Native American tribes. As more European settlers moved west, hunting the animals and taking over their habitats, their population fell to just a few hundred, according to the U.S. Department of the Interior. The federal government also killed many bison as part of an organized effort to harm the economy and food supply of the Plains Indians.

Since then, bison have made a comeback: around 50,000 are now raised as livestock and 30,000 live in conservation herds. These conservation herds only move on about 1 percent of the initially occupied land bison. The InterTribal Buffalo Council has acquired 25,000 wild bison in 65 herds on tribal lands, according to National geographic.

“Most buffalo today live in private herds and ranches,” Baldes tells the publication. “They are essentially ecologically extinct.”

The story of the white buffalo calf in Lakota culture is that a holy woman appeared to them during a time of famine, according to the NPS. She brought a sacred pipe, taught how to pray, and told people that she would one day return to restore harmony and spirituality. She transformed into a white buffalo before disappearing.

“Many tribes have their own stories about why the white buffalo is so important,” Troy Heinert, executive director of the InterTribal Buffalo Council, told the AP. “All the stories come back to them and are very sacred.”

“With the momentum we are seeing with bison restoration and conservation, I think this will help raise awareness not only of the importance of the sacredness of this white buffalo calf, but also the issue of existence (of the buffalo) as a wild animal”, Baldes recounts National geographic.