“Dashing through the snow, coming right towards our windshield, we should probably go, if we don’t we might get killed…”
Hopefully you read that in the tune of “Jingle Bells,” though I do think that it is still a little early for Christmas music. Parodies of Christmas classics that pertain to bison will temporarily get a pass.
Not to brag on myself, but I do feel like I was able to work up a rather accurate and narrative storyline in just a couple of lines from the traditional Christmas song. You’ll watch the video here in a second and say “yeah that pretty much summed it up.”
In the clip, some snowcats (the snow-trekking vehicle) were making their way down a slippery slope of snow when a massive, full-grown bison started running right towards them.
Let me remind you that we humans had to design a vehicle like this to effectively navigate and traverse snow, all while this bison is just powering through the powdery precipitation on its own with ease.
And as an added bonus, the 2,000 pound beast was running uphill, whereas the snowcats were moving down the snow slope. There’s no speed-gun to confirm this, but it looks like the bison was pretty close to its top speed (around 35 miles per hour) while running 1) in the snow and (2 uphill.
The showcase of pure, natural power garnered a breathtaking “oh my goodness” from someone within the vehicle as the big ole bison dashed right past the windows of the special snow vehicle.
It looked like there was plenty of room in between the tree line and the snowcat for the bison to run through, but the big animal (largest land animal in North America) decided to cut it really close, and practically grazed the side of the vehicle.
Luckily for the people inside the snowcat, they just got to observe the raw power of bison from a close distance, and didn’t have to worry about how to keep the vehicle moving with one of the bison’s horns stuck through one of the windows.
Take a look:
I hope I’m never driving a vehicle and have to stare down a bison running full speed right at me. Absolutely terrifying…
