I think=20 you would be interested in the information I had collected on the Bison = and=20 their near extinction. I = think it=20 is an absolutely amazing story and demonstrates clearly how something = that is=20 taught in error for so many years is so blindly accepted by the public. = This=20 won=92t be a paper, I am reconstructing the facts from notes and = references and it=20 will seem just a personal narrative.

First a=20 series of facts (and near facts in the absence of precise = numbers)

=B7 =20 The population of Bison = at the end=20 of the civil war was estimated variously at 35 million to 75 million. = Based on=20 the number of square miles occupied at the time and educated estimates = of the=20 carrying capacity per acre, I favor the lower end of that = range.

=B7 =20 Long term studies of = Bison by Dr.=20 Mary Meagher at Yellowstone found that in the wild a ten year old = bison=20 was an oddity, normal average life span =20 is more like 7 years. = The=20 literature is full of references to 15 or twenty year old animals in = captivity,=20 these do not reflect the norm in the wild. These are pampered, well fed, = zoo=20 animals which never even delayed a meal, let alone missed = one.

=B7 =20 This means that, in the absence of disturbance, = about=20 one seventh of the population would die naturally every year. That is a = minimum of five a million = animal=20 natural background death rate. (Assuming the lowest population=20 estimates.)

=B7 =20 This had been going on = for millenia=20 and the bones remain for decades. We don=92t have hyenas that eat bones = as they do=20 in Africa, or a species of vulture that also eats bones.

=B7 =20 References to = huge numbers of=20 bison bones scattered on the prairies show up as early as the 1840=92s = in the=20 journals of a young missionary travelling to join the Whitman Mission to = the Nez=20 Perce, (so much for the huge piles of bones offered as evidence of the=20 slaughter.) from the original journal now in the Whitman Mission = Museum in=20 Walla Walla WA.

=B7 =20 Calf survival of Bison = is=20 phenomenal when compared to cattle, close to 96%.

=B7 =20 Bison range had shrunk = to about=20 half the originally recorded distribution by the time the commercial = slaughter=20 began following the civil war. They (in pre-contact days) occurred in=20 California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Idaho and as far east as = Florida, North=20 Carolina, Virginia, Pennsylvania in Colonial days. (The early Spanish = reported=20 killing them in Florida in the 1500=92s) The Dominguez-Escalante = expedition killed=20 about a dozen near what is now Vernal Utah in 1776. Coronado described = them on=20 his famous expedition well south into Chihuahua Mexico. Zebulon Pike=92s = expedition killed them in South Park at the head of the Arkansas River = in the=20 Rockies. Bison were killed in Virginia until after 1700. (The best map = of bison=20 distribution is in the November 1994 or 95 issue of National=20 Geographic)

=B7 =20 During the peak = years of the=20 hide trade, 1871-1873, The Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe RR shipped = 469,000=20 hides, in total, for those three years. Those are the = three years=20 of greatest slaughter. This is an average of 156,000 animals per year = from a=20 population of at least 35 million, a population which was reproducing at = a rate=20 of at least 5 million a year! =20 Killing one animal out of every 200 animals is not a very = efficient way=20 of exterminating, especially when they are reproducing all the time. It = also=20 means that the slaughter in the three biggest years was equal to=20 1/200^th of the natural background death rate, and about =BD% = of the=20 population. (State Department of Fish and Game agencies try to keep the = annual=20 hunting harvest of deer down to 10% of the population to keep a wide = safety=20 factor to avoid reducing the population. This policy fails, all deer = populations=20 in all states are increasing beyond management goals.)

It=20 becomes obvious early on in this process to see that the slaughter of = the bison=20 for hides could not possibly be the factor that brought the animal to = the verge=20 of extinction. In fact, I believe it was cattle diseases brought in by = domestic=20 livestock. Think about some other facts: (These are not necessarily = connected=20 but each has the potential to have influence).

=B7 =20 The loss of earlier = range that=20 occurred from the 1500=92s to the middle 1800=92s might be postulated as = the result=20 of animals being infected as the herds became exposed to cattle on the = fringes=20 of their original range as settlement crept forward.

=B7 =20 Later, the travelers on = the Oregon=20 Trail averaged taking 16 domestic animals apiece as they began their = trek. With=20 a quarter million people going over the Oregon Trail, (through the heart = of=20 bison range) it means 4 million head of livestock accompanied them. = Losses were=20 horrendous. The carcasses remained to contaminate the bison. This was = about the=20 time that the germ theory began to penetrate the professional community, = but not=20 the general public. There was no such thing as vaccination for=20 animals.

=B7 =20 The most widespread = cattle disease=20 at the time was brucellosis, which tends to cause a spontaneous abortion = when=20 the fetus is about the size of a teacup! With millions of crows, magpies = and=20 ravens following the herds, no evidence would survive more than=20 minutes.

=B7 =20 Hide hunters were paid = by the=20 pound, so it was to their advantage to shoot the largest animals.=20 (males).

=B7 =20 The market for hides = was primarily=20 for the myriad of leather belts to drive machinery in the expanding = industrial=20 revolution, (male hides again, bigger hides yield longer, stronger=20 belts.)

=B7 =20 The selective removal = of males from=20 a population of animals with the polygamous pattern of mating behavior = of all=20 bovids, is to stimulate population growth. =20 This is because when there is selective removal of males, many of = the=20 consumers of the largest amount of critical winter forage are removed, = leaving=20 more and better food for cows and calves to get through the winter. This pattern increases the = proportion of=20 successful pregnancies and calf survival. In addition, the percentage of = the=20 population that is made up of reproducing females becomes gradually=20 larger.

=B7 =20 Last, from an economic = point of=20 view: All hides were freighted to the railheads by horse drawn wagons. = Economics=20 dictate, and restrict, the distance beyond which such transport becomes=20 unprofitable. The price of the hides was fixed but the cost of getting = them to=20 the railroad increased with each day of travel. Only three railroads = penetrated=20 the plains at this time (two of these were small spurs in the Dakotas), = So the=20 bison could only be profitably shot within a distance where horse and = wagon=20 could carry the hides to the railroad and then return for another load = in a=20 short enough time to carry enough loads to make a profit in a season. I = would=20 estimate this would be an absolute maximum distance of 50 or 60 miles. = That=92s a=20 week out and a week back with a heavily loaded wagon. That distance from = the=20 railroads only covers a tiny fraction of the plains. Try drawing a shaded area 60 = miles on=20 either side of the three railroads of the times and see how much of the = plains=20 could have been harvested of bison.

=B7 =20 Lastly, all residual = populations of=20 bison were found to be infected with brucellosis when tests became=20 available.

The=20 scenario of the commercial shooting as the causal factor for the = disappearance=20 of the bison simply cannot be made to make sense. In fact it is not even = remotely possible.

However,=20 if you stop the replacement through birth, in about seven years you run = out of=20 adults! I=92m sure it was = not a=20 complete stop, brucellosis spreads most commonly by the cows nuzzling = the=20 afterbirth of the aborted fetus in curiosity. The spread would be = necessarily=20 slow. It took 25 years from the beginning of the slaughter. However, it = had=20 probably been going on for a century or more at the fringes of the=20 range.

Is=20 this presented in such a way that a person without the training in = ecology and=20 population dynamics can still understand clearly how preposterous the = =93accepted=20 wisdom=94 about the bison is? =20

I=92m=20 probably not qualified to judge that because I have spent a career since = 1953=20 working with the subject of wildlife population dynamics.

Tell me=20 if this piques your interest.

A couple=20 of references: Death on the = Prairies by=20 Paul I Wellman = and

The Buffalo Book by David A = Dary (avon=20 Books 1974)The Time of The = Buffalo,=20 Tom McHugh. Alfred Knopf, 1972

Ben