Surprising Facts About Buffalo | The American Buffalo | A Film by Ken Burns | PBS

Official website: to.pbs.org/buffalo | #AmericanBuffaloPBS
Did you know a buffalo can jump over a six-foot fence? Or hit running speeds of 35 miles per hour? These animals may look strange and slow, but they’re a souped-up hotrod of an animal hiding in a minivan shell. They were also driven nearly to extinction - but that’s only the beginning.
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#kenburns #buffalo
More about THE AMERICAN BUFFALO
For thousands of generations, buffalo (species bison bison) have evolved alongside Indigenous people who relied on them for food and shelter, and, in exchange for killing them, revered the animal. The stories of Native people anchor the series, including the Kiowa, Comanche, and Cheyenne of the Southern Plains; the Lakota, Salish, Kootenai, Mandan-Hidatsa, and Blackfeet from the Northern Plains; and others.
Numbering an estimated 30 million in the early 1800s, the herds began declining for a variety of reasons, including the lucrative buffalo robe trade, the steady westward settlement of an expanding United States, diseases introduced by domestic cattle, and drought. But the arrival of the railroads in the early 1870s, and a new demand for buffalo hides to be used in the belts driving industrial machines back East, brought thousands of hide hunters to the Great Plains. In just over a decade the number of bison collapsed from 12-15 million to fewer than a thousand, representing one of the most dramatic examples of our ability to destroy the natural world. By 1900, the American buffalo teetered on the brink of disappearing forever, and Native people of the Plains entered one of the most traumatic moments of their existence.

[@PBS]

Is it 'Buffalo' or 'Bison'? 🦬Turns out, it's both: www.pbs.org/kenburns/the-american-buffalo/is-it-bison-or-buffalo

[@alastairgreen2077]

No, it's not. It's a bison.

[@georgesheffield1580]

Bison .

[@maxbarko8717]

Of course it’s a bison not a buffalo. The first settlers didn’t know some of the wildlife and named them incorrectly, like elk which actually is wapiti and moose which is elk.

[@danielhooke6115]

No, poor americanski, is a "bison". 👎 #Bison

[@mijreklaw3051]

Seems narcissistic to use one of your own sources to prove your point.

[@michelesfo7799]

As a small girl, my grandmother opened the Buffalo paddock located in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. She'd call out to them, hand me dried bread, and told me to not curl my fingers as I fed the Buffalo. My grandmother ran the little farm nearby. I can still smell the grassy breath of those Buffalos so long ago.

[@the_OriginalGamester]

Amazing

[@jamesinaustin7358]

I grew up near Pioneers Park in Lincoln, Nebraska, which had a small bison herd. One evening at dusk I was watching the group of maybe 10 animals. They started dancing and getting agitated. Then they raced from one end of the pasture to the other in a herd. It was amazing how quick they were. I can't imagine what it must have looked like for a half million of them to race across the long grass prairie before everything was fenced and farmed, but it must have been one of the most amazing sights on earth.

[@rodscarbrough2337]

I wouldn't want to get in their way.

[@annabrown7302]

LOVE AND RESPECT THIS BUFFALO❤

[@johnrivera922]

Loved it. Can’t wait to watch the whole thing. As a Hispanic male who grew up white/American, is nice to see my peoples history being told for a change. Thank you.

[@thebakk34]

I can't help but watch anything related to American Bison with a big smile on my face! They're my absolute favorite indigenous animal. I also recognized Ol' Steve Rinella's voice right away,

[@VunderGuy]

American Buffalo.

[@1mourningdove54]

I can't wait to watch the entire series. Thank you Ken Burns for another story about our nation.

[@roberthevern6169]

Love Peter Coyote's unmistakable voice!

[@adamhuffman3354]

He does have the most perfect voice

[@DanielJames-wz3hd]

Please protects these magnificent creatures

[@rppvt]

I love the relationship between the prairie dog and the bison. I do hope they touch on that in this series.

[@VunderGuy]

Buffalo.

[@frankgrabasse4642]

Gophers

[@horacio-ho3bf]

​@@frankgrabasse4642gophers are not prarie dogs are not ground squirrels

[@horacio-ho3bf]

And the black footed ferrets

[@Laserblade]

Thank you PBS! Pound for pound, the strongest animal on Earth. I will be sure to watch the entire video.

[@EireHammer]

The big African four have a question for you?🤣

[@maryjomayfield537]

Apparently the animal we have been calling a Buffalo is not really a Buffalo but is in fact a Bison and that Buffalo are not native to America but to Africa.

[@davidsanders7211]

The Buffalo is really outstanding animals full grow 1 ton remarkable creatures. Must be great to see them in person.😊

[@genewest8426]

Peter Coyote has the best narrative voice in documentaries.

[@Svensk7119]

Love that they had Steven Rinella. Peter Coyote is the narrator! Excellent!!

[@mortalclown3812]

I expect his voice in the afterlife. 😂

[@Svensk7119]

@@mortalclown3812 Well said.

[@rscott2247]

The thing I heard about the Buffalo/Bison is that unlike cows, they have the ability to dig through snow to eat grass in the winter.

[@EastEZ82]

Shout out to my natives who always respect and lifted up everything under the sun and above it.

[@heightsofsagarmatha]

Except the ones who murdered and pillaged other tribes. Doesn't fit with the liberal narrative but it happened

[@willfrey7589]

It's as awesome as I thought would be. Thank you, Ken.

[@adriennegormley9358]

One of the things I was taught growing up is their unpredictability. I know that the massive herds before they were decimated could, and did, derail trains. As we lived within Sunday picnic distance of Yellowstone, this was the sort of things our parents drilled into our heads. They are magnificent beasts that we were taught to respect.

[@garryferrington811]

They weren't decimated, they were nearly eradicated.

[@andersonic]

"Buffalo" just feels like the right name for these bison, even if you know what true Asian and African buffalos look like. The word affectionately evokes their shaggy coats and girth and range. Like why a furry elephant would be called Snuffleupagus.

[@oakmaiden2133]

Dear Ken Burns, I want a doc on the history and long term effect of open ranging cattle in America. It is directly connected to the eradication of the bison and erosion of wayerways.

[@someguy2135]

I wholeheartedly agree! Here is a fascinating video comparing the American Bison (aka buffalo) to the cattle that replaced them (other than the small pockets of survivors.) It also covers the effect on the American prairie. kzbin.info/www/bejne/i4OtfmCmm7SirZY

[@janelightning73]

Let's not forget the eradication of wild horse herds.

[@thomasfoss9963]

In my studies, eliminating the bison wreecked havoc on the plains flora, eventually changing the dynamics of the soil structure-- Native grasses, and plants flourished over thousands of years, supporting a wide range of wildlife including birds, and various mammals-- When cattle were introduced, some non native grasses were then planted to support them, since their cows didn't prefer some of the course prairie grass that the bison ate---- Some of these non-native grasses have contributed to the more intense wildfires we are seeing today in California, and in various pockets of the West----

[@compton1808]

Don't forget the slaughter of bison on the plains when the white man was building railroads, by the tens of thousands.

[@obtuseangler768]

​​@@janelightning73​ hundreds of Nations didn't worship regalia and beat drums out of horsehides though. I'm not intending to imply that wild horses aren't magnificent and greatly missed, however, they do not have the cultural significance the buffalo does in North America.

[@carlgomm9699]

I love Ken Burns movies, hope to see lots more like this !!

[@loricharpentier1654]

They are awesome looking. ❤

[@davidcooke8005]

Long ago I was at Old Faithful at dawn to see the geyser. Had the place to myself. They have a wooden walkway around it, and inside the walkway are loads of 'Stay off the grass' signs. Right next to a sign was a magnificent buffalo. I got as close as I dared, and got the pic. Like who is going to tell HIM he can't be on the grass? Not me.

[@gl15col]

I saw a short video of one of the Native American buffalo herds, and one ancient bull was cut out of the herd to provide meat for the people. It ran away, up and down hills tossing it's head and capering, until it came to the top of a hill. And then it stood still, watching the approaching hunters as if deciding to give itself to them. It was a deeply spiritual feeling...

[@tomthx5804]

Yeah, sure.

[@huitzilinf_art]

I wasn't expecting Steven but it is a welcome surprise

[@196cupcake]

Obviously, keep your distance if you one in the wild, but they're pretty cool to see up close.

[@RichardGeiszler]

Bison, if startled, will even charge an automobile. People thinking they are big fuzzy cows often find out the hard way. Respecting the bison as wild animals was taught to me during early family trips to the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge in SW Oklahoma.

[@kidmohair8151]

in the first 10 seconds, that guy saying, "this magnificent animal, and they're *our* animal"... did he even think before he said that? our colonizing ancestors, mine and his, looked at the buffalo and said, "it has to go", to make way for our wheat fields and stockyards and fences... the only people who can lay claim to the buffalo without hypocrisy, are the native Americans.

[@user-hi4vo1cn7r]

I loved this documentary.

[@kaioiamo1503]

Our? Always shocks me when Europeans want to come to africa to preserve wild life when every time they have contact with any they decimate the population in one generation. Colonizing continues to destroy humanity. Awful what the colonizers did to the buffalo.

[@someguy2135]

I agree. Here is a fascinating video comparing the American Bison (aka buffalo) to the cattle that replaced them (other than the small pockets of survivors.) It also covers the effect on the American prairie. kzbin.info/www/bejne/i4OtfmCmm7SirZY

[@JustAThought155]

Great subject matter. And Ken Burns is definitely one of my absolute favorite documentary writers. However, as this series advanced, via my PBS account, I tried to watch this documentary, entirely, but simply could not. Two days. Three attempts. I can’t watch it. All attempts stopped as I saw the destruction the non-native American populations leveled upon those animals in exchange for dollars. Absolutely heartbreaking for this American viewer.

[@user-oe8vv8cb1t]

Wonderful! Thank you for bringing us this fantastic production.

[@loub1105]

Buffalo Facts - THEY ARE NOT BUFFALO! THEY ARE BISON!

[@ronrogers5045]

Fact 1: they are called Bison

[@Mrmidknight-yx9pg]

I just like it when the bison go hem

[@Robert-hp4ul]

Great program. Only one glaring error. One talking head said, “Their main defense mechanism is to run away.” Buffalo are afraid of nothing. Buffalo not being smart wolves can sometimes slyly panic a herd with calves to break their defense ring and stampede allowing calves, sick, injured to be killed. Never mind wolves Google buffalo/bison grizzly bear and watch a bevy of videos of bull buffalo or mature females run off a grizzly bear no problem. It’s a problem for the grizzly if they’re caught though. They soon have a few new orifices.

[@Orang315]

The Bison is still a prehistoric animal 🦬 It’s just still here

[@ronbelanger4113]

Long as they avoid those Bison from the north! LOL

[@WAVEGURU]

No mention of their wings?

[@nashtrojan]

The animal's name is the American BISON the freaking scientific name is Bison Bison... that is family and species.

[@christopherpett3264]

For the Native Americans the loss of the Buffalo was a Lost Universe.

[@ge2623]

An early form of intentional genocide by a government policy. Sick.

[@marthabunting2833]

Correct native americans thanked the animal for its life when they killed the animal.

[@heightsofsagarmatha]

​@marthabunting2833 not really, liberals have a propagandized take on history.

[@coolbananaboy5075]

Funny how the title is "Surprising Facts ..." but the majority of the video is about feeling, spirit, and general vague info.

[@animalsVisiting]

Bison is so full power❤

[@laara1426]

According to Smithsonian Zoo and orher verified sources BUFFALO and BISON are NOT the same animal. Geez... correct this. America doesnt need another gross generalization.

[@laara1426]

Those are not Buffalo. They are Bison.

[@CryptoMiningTechnologies]

So cute. ❤

[@rodroper211]

rule #1 "don't pet the fluffy cows"

[@ErelasInglor]

Got to love how the most absurd misnomer for North American Bison continues to this day due to poor misunderstanding and mislabeling in the past. Buffalo are a completely different species. It's like calling a Swift Fox a Jackal. Europe has no issue with colloquial misnomers around their European Bison.

[@christopherpett3264]

Bison existed in America before humans. Humans had to adapt toward them to survive.

[@thonbrocket2512]

Bert: 'ere, Alf, 'ow can you tell a buffalo from a bison? Alf: Easy, Bert. Yer can't wash yer 'ands in a buffalo.

[@jcclark2060]

They are Bison NOT buffalo!

[@butchbinion1560]

Thanks. 👊🏼✌🏻

[@msa4548]

They are bison, not buffalo.

[@carollever4662]

Nice film 🎞

[@richardc6269]

I was struck only 30sec in. This is "our" animal. This kind of thinking is what's wrong with our species.

[@gihankanishka]

"our animal" that you almost wiped out 0:08

[@PuFFerTV98368]

I thought the same thing ✌️

[@volkoff6357]

There is no one alive today who is responsible for what happened over a hundred years ago. Hating someone for something their ancestors did is the definition of ignorance and racism.

[@richardeast3328]

The Darwin tribe said the bison came from the primeval ooze.

[@lizannewhitlow1085]

I love Peter Coyote narrating!

[@perspellman]

I have tried continously to find and play the film on PBS' page, where it's set to be available either on iTunes or Amazon, but again it's not. Where can I stream The American Buffalo? I'm thankfull for a direct funtional link.

[@libertyvilleguy2903]

Proper description is bison, not Buffalo.

[@keza3250]

The ancestors of European people's lived with bison in Europe and Eurasia a lot longer then 10 to 20 thousand years ha ha neanderthal and cromagnone man Hunted them probably for 100 000years or more

[@josephdonais4778]

Buffalo are as much "ours" as is vanity.

[@jorgebraz474]

With my best greetings and Thanks Wopila Tanka ❤😶👍

[@fado792]

Seek for bison skull moutain. People were mad.

[@Uchetysx5]

Bison. You should know this.

[@user-td1fi6vu2t]

Realtors killed the bison for the land😢.

[@standingbear998]

I do not believe an adult can jump a 6 ft fence. I have seen many run, most animals are faster than people think.

[@derrickrichins5747]

Bison. Buffalo live in Africa and India and are a completely different kind of ruminant

[@alanmctavish3628]

The natives of Western Canada lost 2 inches in height after the bison disappeared.

[@T410ce]

Really, what is your source for this and why would this be? Surely they received nutrition elsewhere…

[@americangirl-]

Buffalo soldiers coming to America!!! There is another story to be told here ALSO MY BROTHER Ken Burns...Much respect to you I cried through both episodes 4 hours...MARLEY SAID IT, MARLEY WAS RIGHT ALSO IN HIS STORY OF THE BUFFALO SOLDIERS ✌❤🌎🦬🦬🦬

[@MakerBoyOldBoy]

The first European contact with our bison was with Spanish conquistadores who being younger children and thus not inheriting anything at home saw the masses of bison as a gift resource. Each saw themselves as Dons of limitless ranches with endless bison taking the place of cattle. A round up was the first order of business to start their empires. As a large group they began their round up and immediately each proto-Don encountered the fight of their young lives as the ill-tempered bison violently attacked each horse and rider. The account doesn't list the number of injured and dead. But the encounter was decisive.

[@giovannirojas3952]

I already knew this.

[@terriejohnston8801]

TATANKA. ❤❤❤❤

[@blakespower]

I tried watching it but all it seemed to talk about was Humans, very little on the actual Bison

[@billbammerlin4666]

They can walk through a 5 strand barbwire fence

[@Trag-zj2yo]

Nothing lasts forever

[@user-bo1ux2pv1l]

I think reflect from the past, some people went arrogant in the relationships with the other creatures and even the nature, I think the human civilization have been growing and improving, in the past, human beings compete with some other creatures, then human beings can raise some creatures so some creatures feel grateful about the raising they chose to sacrifice themselves to feed and serve the human beings who raised them, the animals die from feeling grateful I think, the human beings ate and created from them by feeling deserved I think, maybe there will be more and better relationships between human beings and animals in the developing of human civilization…

[@terriejohnston8801]

Was SO excited that the ORIGINAL BISON HERD....THAT WAS NEARLY WIPED OUT....WERE MIRACULOUSLY PRESERVED. HOW? BY SOME VERY DEVOTED FOLKs....the original (dna) Buffalo herd were bred ...& eventually released back into the wild. Check out the story online. A celebration by these folks who worked so hard & smart to preserve The American Bison.

[@lanceash]

Hey, Ken, what does Branford Marsalis have to say about the American Bison? I'm sure we'd all love to hear his and Stanley Crouch's views on the Bison's movements since 1970.

[@Mbartel500]

A buffalo and a bison are two distinctly different animals. There are no American buffaloes. Those animals are bison, not buffaloes.

[@user-sg8kq7ii3y]

Yes, But it is acceptable to use the term "buffalo".

[@Mbartel500]

@@user-sg8kq7ii3y so you think it is ok to call a fox a wolf? Or a leopard a jaguar? What if your name was Mark, and people called you Bill? A bison and a buffalo are two different species of animal. Try to keep up….

[@user-sg8kq7ii3y]

@@Mbartel500 I understand what you're saying, but it's still acceptable to call bison "buffalo". Even experts and Native Americans themselves call it "buffalo", but they all know the proper terms. Read the book "Blood Memory". It explains the two terms in great detail, and explains they're common usage. So it's great if you want to use the term "bison". It's the term that I use. But I also know what people are referring to when they say "buffalo". It's like how Americans call the NFL "football", when players rarely use their feet, and they call actual football "soccer". Yes, it does not make sense, but, whether you like it or not, that's the language that's used. So just relax and chill out. It's NOT THAT serious of a deal.

[@mr.pradorobledo]

65', Buffalo 66' 67ERS. New Young Giants, NYG. Jetty, Jetsons.

[@mr.pradorobledo]

Super Eight, Super Bowl 58. #NYJ

[@beverlykovic8563]

would like to watch this but the competing music is enough to drive anyone crazy

[@duanehorton4680]

Fact number one: They are actually bison, not buffalo.

[@jo8726t]

I was disappointed in this film. I think Ken could of put all the info into a couple of hours. The first episode was the same point reapeated over and over. I stopped watching it but buffalo are a amazing, beautiful animals.

[@elizabethhasse6088]

It is NOT a Buffalo, this majestic animal is the American BISON.

[@peaceandlove5214]

Are Buffalo bulls dangerous like bulls of cattle?

[@JudyMoore-lw4qi]

They are Bison.

[@brucesteele3052]

Bad news. Javelina are not pigs nor are bison buffalo. They are not one and the same.

[@timothynechville8326]

Even the cows can clear those cattle guards, i know I had to put an electric wire across it.

[@beepboop204]

[@pierrevincent9568]

"bison and humans coevolved over the last 10k years or so" so? coexisting life forms co-evolved over the last 4 billion years or so!

[@shyangel8311]

That is a bison not a Buffalo

[@gophersk]

If it weren't for Canadians the Bison/Buffalo would be extinct. They preserved the blood line in northern Alberta. The herds were brought back, a few at a time to the United States. The Bison is not the "American Bison" it is the North American Bison.

[@griggbaylee5808]

Wainwright Alberta 🇨🇦

[@user-sg8kq7ii3y]

If it weren't for the white man, bison would have never been in danger to begin with. Same for grizzly bears

[@SeagullAmIOne]

TIP TO TIP!!!! :P

[@ericvanvlandren8987]

When you say “ours” …. 🤔

[@druboy7201]

These are bison, not buffaloes.

[@CAwolfguy]

BISON!! NOT buffalo.

[@jcreed09]

Cattle were domesticated approximately 10,500 years ago and Horses about 6,000 years ago. Imagine if Bison were domesticated about 8,000 years ago by the Natives, beast of burden first, eventually as mounts (people riding Bison on KZbin). Not impossible, the ancestor of the modern cow were the Aurochs who were as fierce as Bison, first Horses were feral, hard to break. Domestication would've meant Zoonotic diseases like Smallpox, Influenza, tuberculosis, etc., given Natives a better immunity when they encountered Europeans. Wheel would've been invented out of necessity, carts pulled by Bison, mounted Bison Riders traveling the Continent- exchange of information, ideas- like metallurgy- with South America. A very different America when Europeans arrive...

[@andrewbrown2888]

That looks like that guy that drives the Audi SUV,the grey one,that stays at the chamblee extended stay.