Yellowstone National Park has welcomed it’s first bison calf of 2025.
If there was a place to go to see North America’s largest land animal, it would be Yellowstone. Somewhere around 5,000 bison call Yellowstone National Park home, and with most of them traveling in herds, encountering a group on the move like this – with a bison calf – isn’t out of the ordinary
Most of the time with animals (and with humans), there’s a process of growing up, where you have 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. The parenting process for bison generally lasts about six months, and it’s at that point that a bison mother will start to wean off her young and move them to grazing (female calves can sometimes take a little bit longer to become independent).
Though this bison calf might be an exception, because it was welcomed into the world a tad early. Typically, the bison that are born in Yellowstone have due dates in mid-to-late April (or even May). Considering that, the calf in this video was about a half-month early… which means it has to withstand some of the rough winter weather that’s still beating down on Yellowstone National Park.
The good news is that bison calves are precocial, which just means that they are able to stand – and even walk – right out of the womb. They can even run within a couple of hours (or at least in the first couple of days) of their lives. As you’ll see in the stunning video below, this bison calf was understandably a little wobbly as it walked around with the rest of the herd.
I’m sure the snow wasn’t helping anything, as the caption explained:
“The first bison calf of the year in Yellowstone! It was very snowy today, and we had a hard time finding bears and wolves, but were rewarded with the first bison calf of the season. I have never seen one this early before. Bison born this early have a lower chance of survival, but I will keep my eyes open for him, hoping he will grow up and roam the plains as an adult.”
Poor little thing.
I don’t know about you, but I’m rooting for the small bison calf to beat the odds and survive through the harsh, wintry weather. And I’m not alone in that feeling… because the comments were littered with social media users exclaiming the same message:
“Incredibly early indeed. Hopefully this little guy or gal does okay.”
“Rooting for them!”
“Sweet red dog. I hope he survives. It’s still brutal out there.”
“Welcome to the world little one!”
“So precious and I pray for his or her survival.”
