sign in sign up
<<
Home , Cud, Water buffalo

Buffalo – Monarch of the Plains continued Nature’s Bountiful Commissary for the Plains “The were , drink, shoes, houses, fire vessels...and their master’s whole substance...” Rawhide… Signals … Blood… (Dehydrated) Toys Containers Tallow Soups Pemmican (Processed) Medication Shields Soaps Puddings Liver… Buckets Buckskin… Hair Grease Paints Tanning Agents Moccasin Soles Cradles Cosmetic Aids Tail… Stomach Contents… bulletin Drums Moccasin Tops Bladder… Medicine Switch Medicines Splints Winter Robes Pouches Fly Brush Paints Mortars Bedding Medicine Bags Decorations Cinches Shirts Stomach Liner… Buffalo – Monarch of the Plains Manon Roy Tendons… Whips Ropes Belts Water Containers o is it or buffalo? Many of our visitors have asked us this question since their appearance here at Fort Sheaths Leggings Sinews-Sewing Bones… Cooking Vessels Saddles Dresses Bowstrings Fleshing Tools Paunch Liner… Whyte Centre in June of 2000. The truth is, both words refer to the same . Bison is the genus (and Saddle Blankets Pipes Scommon) name given to this animal by scientists. Bags Muscles… Wrappings (Meat) Knives Stirrups Quivers Glue Preparation Buckets Arrowheads Boats Tipi Covers Bows Collapsible Cups Buffalo is a word that goes way back the bison, whom they called Tatanka, The Plains Ojibwa, or Bungi, also Shovels Masks Tipi Liners Thread Basins and has been used to describe almost which means, “big hoofed animal”. developed a close kinship with the “Parfleche” Bridles Splints every of wild oxen under the buffalo. Although they came to Arrow-Ties Canteens The Dakota people had a profound Ornaments Backrests Sleds sun. North American explorers and the prairies later from the eastern Cinches respect for the creature that provided Lariats Tapestries Saddle Trees Scrotum… early settlers called these woodlands, the Ojibway people who them with everything they needed. It Straps Sweatlodge Covers Chips… War Clubs Rattles buffalo because they compared them migrated here were well established offered them materials to make tipis, Caps Dolls Fuel Scrapers Containers to the in Asia, the Cape on the lower Red, Assiniboine, and ropes, clothing, tools and medicine, Quirts Mittens Diaper Powder Quirts Buffalo of and the European Souris Rivers by 1800, and were fast Gall… as well as food, sinew for sewing, Snowshoes Hair… Awls buffalo. becoming a people of the Plains. Skull… Yellow Paints bone tools, and many other things. Shrouds Headdresses Paintbrushes They adopted many of their new Sun Dance Hind Leg Skin… At Fort Whyte Centre we use both Tatanka also played an essential role Pad Fillers Dice ways and traditions from other, long Beard… Medicine Prayers Preshaped Moccasin terms, recognizing the scientific in many spiritual ceremonies of the Pillows Tableware established prairie tribes such as the Ornamentations Other Rituals community and honouring our Dakota, such as the Sun Dance, also Ropes Toys Hoofs, Feet & Plains Cree, Assiniboin, Dakota and history. But, if we take a look back known as Wiwanyag Wachipi. This Horns… Brain… Ornaments Jewelry others. The original word for buffalo Dewclaws… in time here in Manitoba, we find a Dakota word explains the Sun Dance Arrow Points Hide Preparation Hair Pieces in Bungi or Plains Ojibwa is Bizhiki, Meat… Glue treasure box full of names describing as a prayer for life, world renewal, Cups Food Halters or “cow”. Since the introduction Immediate Use Rattles the animal that was the foundation and thanksgiving. Many aspects of Fire Carrier Bracelets of the European cow, however, the Teeth… Sausages Spoons of all Plains Aboriginal cultures living the dance are based on the buffalo. Powderhorn Medicine Balls original name for buffalo was Ornamentation Cached Meat here. Buffalo robes were used in the dances Spoons Moccasin Lining replaced by Mashkode-bizhiki, which and a bison skull was used as part Ladles Tongue… Doll Stuffing Perhaps the most prominent people means “prairie grass cow”, or of the altar arrangement. Twenty- Headdresses Choice Meat of the buffalo in Manitoba, and Bashkode-bizhiki, which translates as eight poles were used to construct Comb (Rough Side) arguably across the North American “prairie () cow”. the sacred lodge, symbolizing the “And yet — there was more, much more, to the relation between Indian and continent, were the Dakota Nation, number of days in a lunar cycle, and speakers of the Siouan language. Buffalo than all these material considerations.” the 28 ribs in a buffalo. Their whole lives, from the spiritual Acknowledgements to the material, were focused on Sincerest thanks to Carole Beaulieu and Roger Roulette at the Manitoba Association of Native Languages, as well as Doris Pratt, a Dakota speaker from Sioux Valley, for taking the time to share their knowledge and stories with us. This bulletin would not have come alive without their input. References (P. 8; Anthropological Papers Number 1: The Plains-Ojibwa or Bungi---Hunters and Warriors of the Northern Prairies with Special Reference to the Turtle Mountain Band, Howard, James H., South Dakota Museum, 1965.) Stories (Further Reading) The Secret of the White Buffalo, by C.J. Taylor. Tundra Books, Toronto, 1993. The Adventures of Nanabush: Ojibway Indian Stories, by Sam Snake, Chief Elijah Yellowhead, Alder York, David Simcoe, Annie King. Doubleday Canada Ltd., Toronto, 1979. Bison for Kids, by Todd Wilkinson. North Word Press, Inc., Wisconsin, 1994. 010403 Printed June 2001 Buffalo – Monarch of the Plains continued Bison Biology Physical Characteristics give birth to a single cinnamon- tail; Playing – flicks back and forth like The magnificent bison is the largest coloured that weighs between 33 flyswatter; Angry or frightened – tail land in , to 66 pounds (15-30 kg) and begins straight up in the air. Buffalo Trivia… weighing between 1,400 and 2,200 life without a hump or horns. Both pounds, close to a metric tonne! Its mother and calf get to know each Defenses How much do YOU know height ranges between 5 1⁄2 to 6 1⁄2 other and can sense each other Since they can’t hide in grasslands, about bison? within the herd. The calf stays with its bison’s best defence is to flee. They feet (1.7 to 2.0 metres) at the hump (The following questions were adapted from The mother until the following spring. can run at speeds of up to 35 mph and its total length averages between Educational Trivia Game Of North American Tribes : The (56 kph!) for 30 minutes, and their 9 1⁄2 to 11 1⁄2 feet (3.0 to 3.5 metres), Buffalo, Cheeotonka Enterprises, Las Vegas, 1999.) including a tail of about 1 1⁄2 feet (0.5 Behavioural Ecology slender legs make them agile runners. metres). A bison’s horns may span Bison are very social animals and Just like in the movies, bison will often 1) Mature older lead the 3 feet (1 metre) at their widest travel in groups except during the stampede, running together in a large herds. True or False? season. Cows form small point. Bison have an excellent sense group when they sense danger. Their 2) Bison have 2, 5, or 7 times “maternity” bands with the young of smell, which helps them to find head makes for an extraordinary the number of hair follicles as , mature males form their own drinking water from miles away! weapon when they charge. It is made domestic . Their hearing is also very sharp, but groups, and old bulls travel alone if of a double layer of bone, 2 inches of their eyesight is poor. they are healthy and strong. skin, and 4-5 inches of fur. The horns, 3) The is the same a permanent growth, are hollow and animal as the American Buffalo? Bison are nomadic animals. They measure 22-26 inches long, typically True or False? Eating Habits move in herds, traveling about two spanning 2 1⁄2 feet tip to tip. These Bison took full advantage of the miles per day (faster when looking 4) Buffalo can jump a 6 foot fence. have been known to throw wolves bountiful and biodiverse prairie flora. for water). During the summer they True or False? (one of the bison’s predators) so Their noses are snow . They swing their head back and forth to clear snow away Their diet consisted of buffalo grass, migrate to breeding grounds. It is the high that the fall killed them. Many from the grass. They also use their noses and hooves to break through ice to get water or 5) Prairie and Buffalo have sedges and twigs from scrubland only time of year they will congregate hunters and have been gored, eat snow. Bison can withstand extreme temperatures; as low as -50°C. During extremely similar habitats during the spring bushes, all of which grew well and in large herds. abundantly on the native prairie. not to mention a few imprudent park cold weather, bison will often huddle together to share warmth. and summer. Yes or No. Bison communicate by staring, Bison have a greater digestive ability rangers. 6) A mature Buffalo bull can weigh making sounds and flicking their Fort Whyte’s Bison Prairie & Rotational than cattle and can break down as much as: 500 pounds; 1000 tails. Their tail position is a sign of Fort Whyte Centre’s bison prairie took considerable time, energy and foresight tough more efficiently. Bison in Winter pounds; or 2200 pounds? They are , which means their mood: Relaxed bison – relaxed Bison are very well adapted to harsh to prepare. This field was seeded with and other crops for decades, they chew their . They regurgitate prairie winters. As temperatures drop, and therefore had to be modified to accommodate its new “community”. One 7) The stomach lining of a bison was partially digested food (the cud) they grow plump, and their coats year prior to the herd’s arrival, the field made into: Footballs; Cooking and chew on it again. Once become thicker in preparation for was seeded with a variety of pasture vessels; or Bath caps? grasses. Because our herd of bison swallowed, it travels through all four cold weather. Their coat is made of 8) Cattle pollute water sources live in an enclosure with limited compartments of their stomach and a double layer of hair; a short dense by their wallowing and urine. space and resources, we use a exits the bison as “buffalo chips”. Dry undercoat which traps warm air close Bison do not wallow or urinate in feeding system adapted from ‘buffalo chips’ were used as fuel by to the body; and a longer coarser water sources. True or False? Aboriginal peoples to keep their fires ranchers, called rotational going. Wood was not easy to come grazing. Here is how it works: 9) The commercial tanning of bison by in the open prairie, and grass The 70-acre enclosure is divided hides began in the: 1600’s; 1700’s; combusted within a few seconds. in two with a solar powered or 1800’s? electric fence in the middle. 10) The Brown Cowbird helps the The bison graze one half at a Reproductive Biology bison by eating insects off their time. This gives the grass a chance The mating season typically begins bodies. True or False? around mid-July and extends to the to grow back and prevents it from

end of September. During the rut, maturing to the point of seeding.

True

bulls search for cows and ward off The rules change in the winter 10) 1800’s

rivals. They challenge each other by to account for the dormancy of 9) True

the land. bales are placed in 8) Cooking vessels Cooking staring, shaking their horns, snorting, 7)

2200 pounds 2200 wallowing, (laying on their side and the bison enclosure as an alternative 6)

Yes, bison use the mounds for dusting for mounds the use bison Yes,

kicking dirt around to display their food source. They will, however, 5)

True

size and power), and roaring. continue to graze on the dead grasses 4) True True overcoat to keep water, snow and 3)

by plowing the snow aside with their

7 7 wind away from the skin. Their hair 2)

Bison cows have a gestation period of broad noses.

False, the older female bison do. bison female older the False,

nine and a half months. Cows usually provides so much insulation that snow 1) falling on their backs won’t melt! Answers: