Bison are certainly one of my favorite mammals to photograph. They are survivors. They endure many difficulties. Native Americans used to run entire herds of them over “buffalo jumps” where the animals plunged to their deaths over steep cliffs. The US government slaughtered them by the thousands, if not millions. And today, they live in isolated populations where they still face the hardship of winter and slaughter. While numbers I’ve seen vary, it is estimated that somewhere around 2,000 or more bison were removed from the Yellowstone herd of approximately 6,000 animals either through capture or hunting. Even now as Yellowstone finally starts to turn green, most of the surviving herd looks like this bull with his ribs visible and hip bones protruding. Yet his strength helps him to persevere.