Some living things seem to be born with confidence, and that can certainly be said about this bison calf in Yellowstone National Park.
This is one of the few bison videos I’ll write about that isn’t covering a bison pinning down a tourist, or a group of the large animals trying to fend off a pack of wolves. This is really just a feel good story, but if you do have interest in reading about a bison getting ripped apart by a wolf, you can head to our outdoors page and read about that too.
Most of the time with animals (and with humans), you kind of need to be guided around and taken care of for a lot of your younger years. You have to spend time learning the ropes, how things work, and what to do and not to do.
Parents of animals in the wild usually raise them until they are able to survive on their own, and then they let them go out into the world and figure things out for themselves. It seems like this bison calf already has the intelligence and belief in itself to get by, but it will probably have to hang around its mother until it gains some more size.
In the video, a herd of bison have cleared out a road in Yellowstone National Park as they walk on by. Cars and trucks are pulled over on the snowy shoulders of the road to let the beasts and their newborn traverse through the middle of the street.
And when the clip first begins, it is actually the young bison that is leading the herd down the road. The white vehicle that pulls up beside the animal causes it to return closer to its mother, but there for a second, the calf was legitimately leading the way.
Of course, if the herd ever had to battle with predators, the young calf would want to hang back and let the big bison lead the way. Still though, it’s cool and unique to see the calf be comfortable enough to walk out in front of its parent and the rest of the herd following closely behind.
So take a look at the young calf trotting along and setting the pace for the rest of bison in the clip below, which is captioned:
“A group of bison took over a road in Yellowstone National Park. A calf led the way as traffic slowed to let them pass.”
