Ever seen a wild bison act as a pace car?
Cars that were on this two-lane highway in Yellowstone National Park had no choice but to slow things down as nature took over the roadway typically reserved for vehicles. There’s all kinds of rules of the road as to who has the right of the way, but there’s no doubt that in this instance, the bison had the green light.
Everyone and everything else had no other choice but to yield to the big ol’ beast… and at least the view was nice as they waited for the bison to hopefully kick it into a second gear.
It’s estimated that somewhere around 5,000 bison call Yellowstone National Park home, and you can see one of those 5,000 in action in the video below. Fully grown bison can weigh over 2,000 pounds, which means that the bison in this clip probably weighs about half as much as the heavy duty truck driving right behind it (needs one of those “Wide Load” signs).
The massive beasts can also reach top speeds as fast as 30 miles per hour, meaning that bison could legitimately give that truck a run for its money… if it wanted to. It seemed more interested in conserving its energy and moving at a snail-like-pace this time around. And hey, there’s nothing wrong with that.
North America’s largest land animals are pretty intimidating on their own, but they really assert their size when they are parading down the road like they are in this clip. If you think about it, this bison single handedly (single hoof-edly?) shut down one lane of this road as it utilized it – albeit temporarily. Their choice of the road more traveled route led to a good, old-fashioned Yellowstone traffic jam. And is there anyone out there that actually doesn’t mind being stuck in standstill traffic?
Typically, I can hold the road rage at bay. And I’d like to think that doing so would be made that much more easier if it was wildlife that was to blame. I know wholeheartedly that I’ve never stopped to admire the hundreds of cars in front of me. But I’d bet I’d be more welcoming (or at least more tolerable) of the traffic if I was watching one of the biggest land animals on Earth going for a pleasant stroll.
As the caption of the post suggests, this burly bison was keeping the traffic in check:
Reminds me of the iconic “I’m walking here!” line from Midnight Cowboy (a movie from 1969). Haven’t seen it? That’s okay… I’m sure you still get the reference.
And now that I think about it, that truck was kind of riding the bison’s tail a little too close, was it not? I feel like the bison would have had every right to turn around and horn out one of the vehicle’s headlights if it so chose to do so. Luckily for the driver of the truck, this bison was just trying to get from point A to point B, and didn’t feel the need to entertain the tailgate rider behind it.
