The science and biology behind bison surviving – and thriving – in winter weather is truly fascinating.
As bison head into the winter season, their coat thickens up to counter the frigid temperatures and blankets of snow that often fall in their North Americans habitats. Those wooly coats play an intricate role in keeping them warm through the winter, and allegedly create such a layer of insulation that snow that lands on their coat will not melt from the heat the bison’s skin gives off.
Bison pair their thickening coats (and skin) with their ability to derive sufficient nutrients from very small amounts of food, which is usually vegetation that peeks through the snow. All of these qualities allow for bison to survive the toughest of winter conditions, and those conditions were shown in the breathtaking footage below out of Yellowstone National Park.
An author and photographer by the name Michael Hodges captured this incredible video of a bison in Yellowstone that he nicknamed “The Crafty Ice Bison.” That’s because the knowledgeable 2,000-pound beast has learned that while everything else freezes over in the area, geothermal creeks stays nice and warm. In the clip below, which is just absolutely stunning, the frozen bison appears to be snacking on some vegetation that’s poking out of the protruding bank of the creek:
“Our old friend the ice bison ambles down to a warm geothermal creek and rides out the blizzard. This crafty old bison has a trick or two up his sleeve. That’s exactly how he’s made it this long. Filmed in Yellowstone Park.”
Shoutout to Michael Hodges for toughing out the blizzard conditions to capture that Yellowstone winter wonderland moment.
The photographer stayed focused on that particular bison for a bit and posted another clip that showed the massive animal from the front side. That video below is great, but the one he posted later from a different perspective somehow surpassed it.
Only because the second round of footage showcased the icicles that were caked onto the bison’s face. As the wind continued to howl, the elements were even able to knock off a couple of pieces of ice that had frozen onto the bison’s fur. If you remember the point I made earlier, the bison’s specialized coat likely keeps the animal from even feeling the icicles
But it still makes for quite the visual, as Hodges explained in the caption:
“A different angle on the ice bison. Here, you can clearly see a chunk of ice crumble from the bison’s mouth and fly off sideways, showing the power of the wind. And I was right there in the blizzard with him.”
I don’t know about you, but I’ll never get tired of watching videos of bison seemingly unbothered in the toughest of freezing weather conditions. While a lot of the other animals hibernate through the winter, or at the very least lay low, bison just keep going about their business and have learned to adapt to the freezing rain and snow.
If that doesn’t make them the true “Kings and Queens of Winter” in the animal kingdom, I don’t know what does…
