It’s easy to be clumsy when you weigh 2,000 pounds.
Just ask this bison. The big ol’ wild animal would be quick to tell you that navigating a frozen body of water within Yellowstone National Park isn’t as easy as it may seem.
Two bison were traversing the ice together, and the one in front didn’t seem to be having much of an issue. And at first, the second bison was holding its own as well. But that’s the problem with walking on ice… things can change in an instant.
The bison went from strolling along confidently to fighting for its life (not really, but you know what I mean) in the blink of an eye. If you’ve ever lost your footing walking on an iced-over sidewalk or driveway, you know exactly what this big beast was going through in the moment.
For those that have never slipped on ice, allow me to explain. Once you start sliding around, there’s 50% of you that says “I can recover from this,” and 50% that’s fully preparing for a rough, terrifying, uncontrollable ass-first landing. That’s just how it works.
You’ll see in the footage that the bison was feeling every bit of both of those. It exhausted a tremendous amount of effort trying to stay upright, only to come crashing down hard onto the frozen ice. If there’s a silver lining to the story, at least it didn’t bust through and into the freezing water.
The thud that it landed with had to have been painful, but the post’s caption suggested that it’s ego was hurt more than anything:
“Watch your step, big guy! A bison took a spill on some slippery ice at Yellowstone National Park. Apparently, hooves don’t mix well with ice, especially when you weigh 1,000 pounds or more!
Looks like this bison was able to walk it off, but the emotional scars of the embarrassing moment will probably last a lifetime.”
