Bison: This is the Wood Buffalo National Park

Steve Schmidt
Jul 28, 2024
3 min read

This is THE largest national park in Canada. You can do every outdoor sport known to man here. And guess what, it has the largest herd of Bison in the world. It is a UNESCO world heritage site. The park is huge, .. larger than Switzerland! A greater portion is located in the northeast corner of Alberta. And.. home to the world's last surviving whooping canes. We never saw any whooping cranes as they are very elusive. Their nests are so far out in the wetlands that even the rabbits pack a lunch to get there.

I was pretty excited when I saw this..never seen Bison before, let alone walking up the road.

The bison is not a true Buffalo. The Wood Bison and Plains Bison are two subspecies of the North American Bison. The Wood Bison are larger. Their hump is angular and is located further up on the shoulder...and their hide patterns are quite different. Some of the Bison we saw are BIG BOYS!!! Bison have been known to leap over 7-foot-high obstacles ..impressive for their size.

Their diet is mainly of grasses and sedges, willows and branches. In Spring and summer, they will graze in dry meadows. In the fall, they feed on lichens. In winter they prefer frozen sedge meadows and lakeshores.

We drove through the Woodland Bison Sanctuary and the Mackenzie Bison Sanctuary. These are located from Behchokò to Yellowknife. The Mackenzie Sanctuary is home to the largest, free-roaming healthy populations that are free from Bovine Tuberculosis and Brucellosis infections found in all other Canadian Bison populations ..unlike the Woodland Park Bison on the way to Fort Smith. The Woodland Park ones unfortunately carry the infections. Brucellosis causes spontaneous abortions, so it can have a huge effect on herd size.

The Bison herds have extended their range. They will go where they want to go, but having said that, there are Bison Control Areas and if you see a Bison in that area, you need to report it right away. These bison-free areas are buffer zones to keep the Tuberculosis and Brucellosis from spreading.

The tail tells the tale. As we passed these big boys, I was checking out their tails. In all my photos I don't think there was one that had me worried.. but then again, I never got out of the vehicle and I have a pretty good telephoto lens.

I think those last three might also signal 'about to poop'. Just sayin. Or, swiping at the flies.

They established the park in 1922. "Plains Bison" were relocated here from 'Buffalo' National Park to 'Wood' National Park (who names these things?) Anyway, it was a near disaster. The Plains Bison brought in the Bovine Tuberculosis and Brucellosis. The interbreeding caused the Wood Bison traits to diminish. Then in 1959, an isolated herd was discovered with the traits and physical characteristics of pure Wood Bison. Yayyyyy In 1963, only 18 healthy animals from this herd were transplanted to the Mackenzie Bison Sanctuary on the way to Forth Simpson. Today they are the largest healthy, free-roaming population of Wood Bison in the world.

When we are driving by these guys, some have a much bigger hump than others, and some have the hump closer to the head. Regardless, they all are big. The older males will leave the herd and strike out on their own. The younger bulls stay with the herd and watch over the females and calves. The males on their own are huge!

This is an older lone bull. He doesn't need the protection of a herd ..he is a herd. lol

This bull is still with the herd. Much smaller & younger. He still needs the herd's protection.

This is a Bison in a "Wallow". When the bugs/flies/especially horseflies become unbearable, they roll in the sand to get rid of them. Consequently, there are lots of Wallow's along the road.