The Largest Destruction of Animals in Modern History | The American Buffalo | A Film by Ken Burns

Official website: to.pbs.org/buffalo | #AmericanBuffaloPBS
The scale of destruction of wild animals in the American West during the 19th century is the largest in known human history. When hide hunters ran out of buffalo, they turned to other animals to feed the market economy, from antelopes and elk to wolves and grizzly bears. Even scavenging animals could not escape the destruction.
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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.

[@AbraAlahouzos]

Thank you for paying attention to this part of history.

[@user-rf1ic2qv1b]

9

[@rotofotonz5150]

This sort of decimation is still happening in our oceans today 😢

[@windrider23]

True, for the second year in a row. Snow crab are too few to fish. Billions are no longer in the Bearing Sea.

[@pjm204]

It's happening on land too, traditional Chinese "Medicine" aims to ensure all endangered species vanish.

[@MyJwiz]

I appreciate learning this very important part of History 🙏🏽❤️ Unbelievably Heartbreaking History

[@Adam-ui8iy]

Man, what it would have been like to be in the Americas in the 1700's...absolutely beautiful

[@raylopez99]

There was a plan, by a Rutgers professor, to repopulate the mid-West with plains buffalo as in the past, but it would require a lot of tunnels and overpasses (since so many roads) and buying of private property to create huge continuous regions where the buffalo (bison) would roam. It would be really expensive too, But in a more rich and advanced economy than what we have at present I think it's worth doing. And clone the passenger pigeon. And resurrect the mastodon (that would be really cool).

[@sarcasmo57]

Reminds me of modern day consumerism and the destruction of the whole Earth today.

[@danksinatra5977]

4:10 We're all still asking the same question....

[@ericmills9676]

The concerted near-destruction of the buffalo was a double genocide: buffalo and Native Americans alike.

[@twillison8824]

You do know that some of the Native Americans also took part in the market hunting of bison too eh?

[@martaholmes4287]

​​@@twillison8824We infected them (First Nations Peoples) with more than just biological diseases. We infected them with greed. We infected them with alcohol. We infected them with Capitalism. We infected them with Christianity.

[@Buttercup697]

@@twillison8824stop trying to erase the fact that 99.9 % of the annihilation of the American buffalo and the genocide of Native Americans lies at the feet of white America.

[@danwalnev4832]

By what percentage?@@twillison8824

[@adanrios3247]

​@twillison8824 and they were killing and raiding each other too

[@alexshank1414]

A travesty what we did to the Buffalo, Native Americans, and nature as a whole. Just weighs so heavily on my heart and soul. Why must we be so destructive, ignorant, and greedy?

[@andirtkdillon]

💞

[@mcyclonegt]

We didn't do that to the buffalo. Our ancestors did, and you should not take on that guilt. The sins of the fathers are not the sins of the sons.

[@harrisonball3339]

​@@mcyclonegtr u serious stop trying to write the wrong

[@pabloashan-deleon3088]

👹 Alex1414, Just For CLARITY, 👇🏿 WHO Are The WE, of Which You SPEAK ❓️🤔💭

[@mcyclonegt]

@harrisonball3339 I am serious. I'm not trying to right any wrong. It was wrong what our forefathers did. But I refuse to take the blame or feel guilty for something I had zero to do with.

[@mikeythesquid1427]

When i was in grade school, I went and a school field trip to a history museum where I saw a blown up photo of the picture that appears @ 9:20...It has haunted me ever since. beyond despicable.

[@TdT2211]

This has to be one of the most atrocious acts of colonization.

[@jeffreystieve8017]

I think the devastation of passenger pigeons was greater in numbers

[@stefansalvatierra4913]

From several billion to none left…

[@dominiccarter5070]

Both was bad dumb to trying to make one seem worse is childish

[@bahlsdeepe868]

Whoa! This is so interesting to learn about. Thank you for putting this up! Please give us more content like this❤

[@triangledefinition]

I had seen pictures of all those bones but I never knew why they were piled like that. It is so striking to hear that more money was made from their dried bones than their hides. It feels so familiar in these days. They will make more money in the future picking though the landfills of our age than we made burning the planet's opportunities with fossil fuels and minerals. Because everyone is rushing to not be left behind, to take advantage of the limited resources before someone else depletes it instead.

[@crimeagainstcreation]

Yes, the near extermination of the American Bison is the largest single destruction of animal life in history - but don't forget that some 50 million Pronhorns were also wiped out during much the same period of time. However, this was on land. In the oceans there's currently a mass slaughter of sharks of a scale way beyond the Buffalo massacre. Basically just to feed the shark fin soup market an estimated 70+ million sharks are slaughtered, and that's every year.

[@anasalinas1466]

Incredible documentary!

[@davidholaday2817]

This is very hard for me to watch.

[@juliusmitchell1999]

They took out the natives food supply

[@davidholaday2817]

I’m so sad. I’m crying.

[@TeutonicNordwind]

The term 'grow a pair' comes to mind

[@user-oh4jq1ju7z]

😂

[@LaurenceLDN]

@@TeutonicNordwind 50 million majestic animals, annihilated...and genocide committed against the original guardians and custodians of that land. To be replaced by cattle & a people that are totally disconnected from nature (and living in the most unsustainable of ways). We are smart, but not wise.

[@raylopez99]

Same thing happened with whaling.

[@sunwukongmonkeyking5561]

What about the passenger pigeon in North America? It was once millions and billions just gone to extinction in a short span.

[@nicksmyth-kirk6926]

Who wrote the poem at the start of part 2, into the storm, Lord James Pace?? I didn’t quiet catch it on tv and can’t find an episode to rewatch and hear poem again. How relevant for modern days.

[@ash8207]

Sad & insufferable to see how Americans back then mistreated & slaughtered these magnificent & noble creatures with such cruelty & callousness. Just disgraceful. SMH! Respect to Ken Burns, as always, for bringing the dark truth of American history to light!

[@michaelsmith3381]

I think the passenger pidgin holds the distinction of the largest destruction of animals in modern history, unlike the bison we can not bring them back or expand their numbers.

[@gandalfthemead3121]

And here we are still doing this to the Wild Mustang. Please donate to the Wild Horses of America and help save an icon of the West.

[@nicocola284]

They re not really native

[@smariegalski3641]

Ohmygod.

[@abishemui8278]

Great Video!

[@jjdonnellan1]

And this is called " civilization " !

[@canucklehead70]

looks like windows xp wallpaper 2:02

[@inquisitvem6723]

$25,000 back then must have been worth a few $ million now

[@acharyajamesoermannspeaker6563]

That was a factoid I did not know before that the bones brought more than the hides in the end.

[@johnrobb9408]

Ted explains it best with "White Buffalo ".

[@JH-ks6pq]

Thank you US Gov't for returning management of these greatest of creatures to those our American Indians, who originally lived with them, respectfully.

[@Intothelight1981]

Human greed knows no bounds!

[@pampermenetwork]

Absolutely disgusting.

[@robertbentzel8105]

When is this going to be televised

[@usnchief1339]

it was

[@SankofaNYC]

This is so HORRIBLE… America has done some really horrible things and literally destroyed entire groups of people andddd animal lol 😅🤯😔It’s just so careless, heartless, and cruel smh. This and other history should NOT be covered up

[@mikemccutcheon8372]

Carrier pigeons? Come on guys stop it

[@seveglider8406]

The extinction, especially ones caused by humans, is tragic!

[@bruce-qm5fl]

Everything bad starts with Government . Two of my ancestors were Buffalo hunters. They put a curse on my bloodline that has endured to this day.

[@raylopez99]

How do you know it wasn't an Indian curse? Unless that's what you mean by "they".

[@plinyTheelder1967]

in alaska, at the bone yard, they are finding all the animals of the northern plains frozen in the permafrost. There is every type of animal you can imagine, buffalo, elk, deer, cats, and wolfs, horse, and many more. If there are only buffalo, what happened to all the other animals that live along side them? If there were 30 million buffalo, then there were equal numbers of the other grazing animal and a proportional amount of predators. who killed them? and who left them dead untouched on the ground to rot and bleach in the sun? sounds like water killed them.

[@magnus9165]

Decimation means one tenth removed. Annihilated would be a much more accurate word. Deci=10, remember, or didn't you make it to the 7th grade?

[@George76124]

Sounded strange to hear : I wish you enjoyed the video...."it about a tragedy " Mrs.......!

[@huypt7739]

Parentless calves were safe from hunt???

[@stefansalvatierra4913]

But without the protection of the adults, they would be vulnerable to predators like wolves and bears. Not to mention succumbing to the brutal winters…

[@Road_Rash]

They were too small to be seen as valuable...no need to waste bullets & powder on something that wouldn't pay well...

[@jdjones6563]

PBS news hour dosen't let people comment. Why? I thought they cared about the people's opinions.

[@user-ev1ty9pm8p]

Decimation is one of the most frequently mis-used words nowadays. We humans are seldom so restrained.

[@user-ev1ty9pm8p]

The buffalo were almost wiped out. To me, that goes waaay beyond any definition of 'decimation'. @@nicks2581

[@darincurrington838]

Well said

[@doctorshawzy6477]

yes..use ancient definitions..modern is wrong

[@GH-oi2jf]

“Decimated” means reduced by one-tenth. I think more bison than that were killed.

[@codymoe4986]

Congratulations on the random pile of Google puke...

[@codymoe4986]

P.S. Do you think that a word, that's origin dates back thousands of years, might take on new meanings to modern society? Nope, you just want to regurgitate some "knowledge"....

[@bennichols1113]

Thank you for understanding history and language. Decimated is so often misused.

[@nicocola284]

Yes no need to be aggressive though

[@eh3477]

Merriam-Webster dictionary: "to reduce drastically especially in number", and, "to cause great destruction or harm to". It's a very commonly accepted use of the word.

[@michaelnunez754]

Glad to see the Truth of Our Past , it must be said . Manifest Destiny started by President Polk and Andrew Jackson may go down in History as the Greatest Slaughter of Human Life that depended on Bison . This is just the beginning of the truth that must be told . Hopefully this leads to the Real People that must get Reparations, and their Home and Lands back .

[@michaelcharlesthearchangel]

How can we effect the livestock that Whites depend on by 2025?

[@Road_Rash]

Don't worry, it won't... just a sad documentary, but nothing that'll make the government do any of that...but they might issue a public apology with nice cheap words, like they did for slavery a couple of decades or so ago...but give people money & land? That's never gonna happen...

[@prawnstar9213]

Have no words for this act of evil.. I don’t understand how/why AFTER the abolishment of slaves this continued.. to cause a population of people the starve.. a population that deemed the buffalo/bison sacred. The cruelty of starving anyone.. children and Mothers.

[@lightningdriver81]

Terrible to be sure. But they’re back.

[@johnberry1107]

I sure wish them others would quit making animals extinct.

[@nujissjiss885]

They smile over those shot bodies like evil demons

[@beepboop204]

[@Jasta1122]

Enjoy? What part of that clip was enjoyable? What a shameful act.

[@bigpump2620]

Predators didn't even have to bother with humans or starve there was so much meat.....

[@spankhill7722]

Decimated? So there should be 9/10 of the bison left

[@lars277]

So sorry, but decimated is not the correct word. That means 10% were wiped out. 'Nearly annihilated' would be a much more accurate usage.

[@triangledefinition]

Decimated can also mean 90% were wiped out and 10% remain.

[@yrutrynme]

I used the word decimate in regards to this topic a few months ago and had somebody say the exact same thing to me.....

[@TeutonicNordwind]

@@triangledefinition NO

[@doctorshawzy6477]

decimated= remove one tenth

[@codymoe4986]

How's ancient Rome, this time of year? P.S. Look up the modern definition...

[@lifestudent2472]

I am going to ignore the cultural equation but could anyone have domesticated the buffalo ?

[@raylopez99]

Bison. Yes they're around today. The domesticated version is the cow.

[@lifestudent2472]

@@raylopez99 I believe "cattle " was evolved from the Aurochs of ' Pakistan and Turkey . I am wondering what would have been involved in domesticating the buffalo / bison line of North America . Are there domesticated bison now ?

[@raylopez99]

@@lifestudent2472 Probably. I recall eating a bison burger back in the day.

[@nightwolfog762]

Little did they know they starved their own nation 🪶

[@mwhitelaw8569]

Been talking to people about this for near 40 years now. So many simply do not know whats not taught The tragic story of this ground cannot be silenced. The forever stain of ourselves

[@codymoe4986]

"Ourselves" You got a mouse in your pocket?

[@janelightning73]

Too disgusting to watch.

[@joyschtik]

Who were the savages really?

[@user-lv4en4hb7l]

The descendants of vikings

[@alitlweird]

1880s is _modern_ history?

[@user-qs2us1qf4j]

This reminds me of all the human giant bones that were bought up and then destroyed. Also the aborigine bones supplied by bounty hunters as a missing link to evolution of man .

[@frankmorris4790]

Ya know, PBS never lets us down. ALWAYS attaching todays morals to the actions and actors of the past.

[@martaholmes4287]

Quit rationalizing our bad behavior! There were white people back East then who decried our stealing land and resources from First Nations Peoples. They. Knew. It. Was. Wrong. You don't need a religion or laws to tell you that! But most white people just didn't care.

[@icemike1]

Right transcends time

[@jmdjohn1931]

Thank you

[@frankmorris4790]

Right according to whom?@@icemike1

[@icemike1]

@@frankmorris4790 right

[@harmonygritz2839]

The greedy can never have enough.

[@Orang315]

😱😱🥳🙀🙀😵‍💫😵‍💫😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 Ohhhhh The white man did soo much damage . 😾 Gimme a break !

[@phl3409]

They were bison not buffalo!

[@aaronjohnson2850]

What the buffalo hunters did is absolutely a disgrace and is something that the usa should always be ashamed of because it is absolutely shameful what they did

[@codymoe4986]

The USA is comprised entirely of buffalo hunters, and/or their ancestors??

[@pcb462]

‘Merica

[@captain54526]

Elk almost met the same feat. The U.S. should have had a management policy in place as it did not !!!!!!!!!!!

[@TeutonicNordwind]

No. Nobody imagined it could happen yet and the data was not available yet.

[@SaxSith]

So the native wouldn’t have anything to eat. Don’t you know that? “Americans “

[@mtn1793]

The same greed borne irresponsibility that destroyed so much American wildlife now threatens humanity its self with extinction. Those conservative book burners would have us deny the lessons of this history to continue the onslaught of human ignorance.

[@thomasrape4616]

If the buffalo hadn't been nearly wiped out the great plains wouldn't have been turned into the greatest farm region in the world, essentially feeding the world.

[@seveglider8406]

Your comment confirms your abundance of ignorance!

[@Hotmeat69]

How’s that world looking these days?

[@nicocola284]

I would say yes however see how much food is waisted everyday, mcdonalds litterally throw away tons of nuggets every evening, people throw most of the food they receive (full of pesticide and dangerous conservators) or eat too much and become obese. You don't need to produce so much.

[@JohnyAnderson-hk2nj]

​@@nicocola284gosh its so annoying cuz it could be better but it's like we are so far gone how tf would we even change it's such a. Sad reality

[@genealogy.digger]

such a wasteful people

[@commondominator4413]

Hey PBS, where exactly are buffalo from? Not North America, thats for sure.

[@seveglider8406]

What is more important? Where Bisons came from or how despicable Americans nearly wiped them out?

[@NativeTexMexican]

#landback

[@bridgetstoli2347]

'Decimate' means killing one in ten of a group. I expect better word use in headlines from PBS.

[@eh3477]

It's a commonly accepted use of the word. Like many words in the English language, it has multiple meanings which may evolve over time. Merriam-Webster dictionary: "to reduce drastically especially in number", and "to cause great destruction or harm to".

[@VagaBumAdventures]

As a native: While white killed more Bison, we natives specifically hunted bison cows (easier to hunt and skin) resulting in greater population decrease than white hunters (according to Dr. Flores, professor of history).

[@seveglider8406]

Dr. Flores is LIAR!

[@codymoe4986]

Native...born unto a place. P.S. Anyone born in the Americas, is Native American, by definition. Simply list the tribal name of your indigenous ancestors, if you are so interested in differentiating yourself from the other 8 billion HUMANS on this planet...

[@LaurenceLDN]

That's an interesting take on history, one that doesn't tally in any way with the evidence. (A remarkable coincidence that the westward expansion of European settlers, and the rail roads, also coincided with the almost complete eradication of 50 million bison).

[@tonyperkins8591]

Yeah they just brushed over this in our school system growing up, I'm probably the last gen when they didn't talk about, maybe because I mightve scalped my teachers that got me in trouble only to go home and get beat. What a world where I can't walk out my door and hunt for food too much $, gotta buy this,that this and that, be licensed. A bunch a bull$!@#

[@allengrantham6693]

This ignores teh effect of Bovine Brucellosis. A fatal bacterial disease spread from domestic cattle to the Buffalo. The risk fo infection from wild buffalo to cattle has been an obstacle to bringing back the buffalo, as has been done with the elk, pronghorn antelope, and deer that were also slaughtered.

[@nativestacker4185]

This type of behavior was very ignorant , just like today when a person kills a wolf because it might eat some of their livestock , that is a lazy man's way of taking care of livestock . All of these animals have a purpose and that is why they are here . Especially today with our planet over-populated , full of disease and not enough healthy food to go around . I am from Minnesota and when I was young my mother would give my brother and I a couple of buckets and tell us go get berries for tonight's dinner and we would either go get strawberries , blueberries or whatever we wanted that night . Today you can walk all day and never find any berries to eat , Mass Farming has killed all the wild berries because of over-population and that is just one thing , don't get me started on clean water to drink .

[@JohnnyTaxonomy]

*Bison

[@donaldpate1863]

This reminds me of the exact same thing the Australian and US governments, are doing to the last remaining wild horses, on their stolen lands! Right now!

[@tylerwestover234]

Horses aren't native DA

[@philoctetes_wordsworth]

Annihilation. Annihilation of the species, not decimation. To decimate a thing is to reduce it by one tenth, hence the deci-. I would have thought people at PBS would know better.

[@TdT2211]

It's a ken burns doc, so....

[@clarencetse]

That's only if you're a stickler for literal old-style definitions. Last I checked we don't live in ancient Rome.

[@davidholaday2817]

Well, maybe they didn’t know better. But also, Buffalo are still alive, so you can’t technically say “annihilation.”

[@moofree]

Also quarantines are always exactly 40 days.

[@commondominator4413]

​@@davidholaday2817Bison, there's no such thing as an American Buffalo, so PBS and Ol' Ken missed that one as well.

[@laara1426]

BISON not BUFFALO. Look it up. Quote science.

[@jpallen719]

The real history of this land……. I can’t even watch this. It’s so disgusting how men could take rifles and shoot these creatures down by the hundreds of thousands. Men that claim to represent the American ranges.

[@delvictor7570]

Lol everything is multitudes better now. Why are you whining?

[@steliosfreiderikos1765]

Only love is life

[@nicholaskellogg975]

Just wish people would use the word decimated properly. It means to decrease by 1/10th or 10%. This is not the case here... It is unfortunate that even PBS does not know how to use English

[@codymoe4986]

Isn't the version of decimate, that you are so hung up on, Latin?

[@blogintonblakley2708]

Thanks rich capitalists...

[@raylopez99]

Mostly poor folk trying to get rich.

[@grizztough4091]

It was to starve the American Indian tribes , period

[@BobQuigley]

Africanns might argue which continent suffered the greatest loss of wildlife. Put all of world's wildlife on one side of a scale and all humans and our farmed animals on the other. Find humans and farmed animals weigh much more. This is a very recent shift and is unsustainable.

[@MC-de6tf]

What they do not say is the US Government actually at one time paid a bounty on on Native American Indian scalps. And all of this country called USA belonged to the Native peoples that was here before the immigrants or invaders came and took almost all of it from the peoples that was here first. But I will be surprised if the editors or monitors of these posts will allow this true statement and comment to remain posted. Peace.

[@vegassid3247]

These are Bison. Strange they can't call them by the correct species.

[@user-rv7mo8fx3g]

With all the talk about too many cattle at about 28 million today in U.S.A. there were 30 million buffalo removed from the environment with apparently no 'climate impact'.

[@LaurenceLDN]

30 million buffalo and ~4 million people...vs 300 million mass consumer humans + 30 million cattle reliant on cultivated food and antibiotics (USA has also overseen the destruction of vast ecosystems and forests that provide vital ecosystem services).

[@whyimsmarterthanyou]

Yes, Indians. It's all about you.

[@gilanafaye]

it was about them. stripping them of their land, their resources, their culture, their language, their lives.

[@GeorgeTaylor-hb9jp]

Does he discuss he fact that disease had an even more deadly impact?

[@martaholmes4287]

Which disease? Do you mean Brucellosis that came over with the European cattle?

[@danielesparza8498]

O George.. smh

[@martaholmes4287]

I'm still waiting for an answer.

[@LaurenceLDN]

@@martaholmes4287 Where's your evidence?

[@ahmdeid]

Exactly similar to what Israelis doing with Palestinians.

[@delvictor7570]

Rooting out abject evil? I suppose you’re right.