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Bison, gentle giants of the Plains, return to National Zoo

American buffalo integral part of zoo's history, officials say

The Columbian
Published: August 28, 2014, 5:00pm

WASHINGTON — The queen of the Plains has a gooey tongue that feels coarse and muscular when she grabs a biscuit from your fingers.

She has spindly legs beneath her 500-pound bulk that belie her ability to run faster than a horse. She also can swim and use her head as a snowplow. And she has an efficient, four-part stomach for thorough digestion.

The female American bison, newly arrived at the Smithsonian National Zoo, also has the dark face, beard and short horns that have made her a symbol of the vastness, and at one time the folly, of the country.

A giant panda with a popsicle she is not.

On Saturday, as part of its yearlong 125th anniversary celebration, the zoo plans to debut its two new female bison — the first the zoo has had on exhibit in more than a decade and the animal on which the zoo was founded in the 1880s.

“These are very American animals,” said curator Steve Sarro. “And we’re bringing them back to the nation’s zoo.”

The bison were donated in July by the American Prairie Reserve, a 305,000-acre tract near the Missouri River Breaks area of eastern Montana. The reserve maintains a herd of about 350 bison and 90 calves, said Damien Austin, the reserve supervisor.

In Washington, the zoo has constructed a small but lush pasture where the animals can graze — and be seen.

Zora and Wilma were officially named Wednesday by students from Howard University and Gallaudet University.

Technically, the new animals are bison, the largest land animal in North America. Male bison can stand over 6 feet tall at the shoulder and weigh 2,200 pounds. “Buffalo” live only in Africa, the zoo said, but both terms are acceptable.

“We’re very, very excited about them being here,” zoo director Dennis Kelly said last week. “It goes to our heritage, and it goes to our mission. We started by trying to save species, and that’s still our mission today.”

The seeds of what would become the National Zoo were sown with bison in the late 1880s when taxidermist-turned-naturalist William Temple Hornaday gathered some for exhibit outside the Smithsonian “castle” on the Mall.

“They are considered the first animals in what would become the zoo’s collection,” said zoo spokeswoman Annalisa Meyer.

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The new bison, among the roughly 500,000 that survive today, weigh a little over 500 pounds each and are about a year old, curator Sarro said.

The zoo has two others, which once were on exhibit but were moved to the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Front Royal, Va., about 11 or 12 years ago, Sarro said.

The new bison were acquired from Montana, in part, because of their genetic purity, he said. “Some of the bison that are around do have some domestic cattle blood in them,” he said.

“They’re incredible animals,” Sarro said.

During the 1800s, the once mighty bison population of 30 million to 60 million that extended from the Appalachians to Alaska was slaughtered until just a few hundred animals were left, the zoo said.

The impact was devastating to the buffalo and the environment, the zoo said, but it was a calamity for Native Americans, who depended on the buffalo for food, clothing, shelter and spiritual sustenance.

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