Yellowstone National Park covers such a vast area full of nature’s beauty. When tourists have all that room to roam, yet still choose to encroach upon large creatures like bison, they can suffer rather dire consequences. It’s always baffling to me when Yellowstone visitors go out of their way to try to mess around with bison, only to be party to 100% avoidable, painful scenarios such as being pinned to the ground, or even straight-up yeeted into a tree. SAIL!
But in this instance, there wasn’t much avoiding an encounter with a herd of bison. Somebody was in their car with seemingly no one else around when these large animals made their way onto the road. An absolute thrill to be sure. Also a little scary. While bison are so massive and aren’t easily threatened because of how imposing they are, any sudden movement could be a trigger, you never know.
Rather than succumbing to any impulse to reach out and touch the bison, this videographer stays composed, captures the video of the herd coming toward him, and we get this pretty awesome scene with a gorgeous backdrop despite the overcast weather.
It’s wild how graceful the massive bison look as they trot down the roadway, their hooves clacking on the pavement as they focus on wherever their latest mobilized journey is taking them.
Another vehicle pulls off in the distance right as the bison hit the road, but once the bison come closer to the video guy’s car, they slow way down. Now is that because they’re uncertain about the strange machine’s intentions? Or are they merely curious about somebody or something else in their path? I don’t know. Maybe it’s as simple as they’re just waiting a beat to ensure that the whole herd stays together as they navigate the unusual terrain. Could be a combination of any or all of those things.
Once again, gotta give mad props to the guy filming all this. I’ve seen videos where Yellowstone tourists want to reach out of their car and pet the bison. As soon as they pulled up on his vehicle, you could hear some of the noises the bison were making resonate through the car. It’s not like they were trying to be particularly loud.
Stumbled upon this video of a bison roaring from somebody else capturing them from a car. Not even in a full-out way. It’s still quite intimidating.
Bison were nearly extinct toward the end of the 19th century, but they’re doing well these days, and Yellowstone is a great home for them. As of early 2024, there were 4,550 bison at Yellowstone National Park. Adult males can weigh up to 2,000 pounds. So yeah, they’re one of the very last mammals you’d ever want to encounter in the wild, never mind going out of your way to try to pet them or interact with them up close.
Yellowstone is a bucket list destination for me. Not sure if I’d be chill enough to hang tight if some bison were sniffing around my parked car, but I now know that approach can be effective thanks to this brave man who sat there and got a sick video out of it to boot.
This post was originally published on here
