A bison’s body language is unmistakable.
The 2,000 pound behemoths will let you when you are getting too close, as we’ve seen play out time and time again at Yellowstone National Park. Suddenly everyone speaks fluent bison body language when the animal’s horns dip down and they start running.
Bison often start a chain reaction when they encounter idiotic tourists. When they start on a mad dash, the people that were getting too close also start running at full speed.
And I point this out every time I cover a bison story out of Yellowstone, so forgive me if I sound like a broken record when I point out that the National Park Service advises tourists to stay at least 25 yards away from bison. Why? Because this is what happens when you don’t.
These people were underestimating the bison that stood before them, and nearly paid the price. The group went from taking pictures to running and screaming in a matter of seconds, and though it was scary, it could have all been avoided.
How? Hmm, I don’t know, maybe STAYING AWAY from the bison. That would seem like a good start. Studies show that your chances of being attacked by a bison go down dramatically if you are a) not an imbecile and b) stay a safe distance away from the horned beasts (by the way, I just made up that study, but I think science would back me up on that).
Luckily, these ignorant park visitors likely only suffered from bison-induced-anxiety. They’re lucky the large land animal wasn’t feeling overtly aggressive the day they decided to mess with it.
Check it out:
Also, I just wanted to give credit to someone in the comment section that called the bison in this footage a “High Capacity Murder Assault Cow.” Obviously, that’s not the animal’s scientific name…but it is a damn good one.
Most people just call bison “fluffy cows,” but this guy took it a step further and combined a bunch of words together that strangely make sense.
If you were playing a guess-that-animal game, and your only clue was “high capacity murder assault cow,” your first crack at it should and would be a bison.
