Why Bison Don't Freeze: The Secret to Surviving Deep Snow

In Yellowstone's western valleys in midwinter, of the times researchers saw a bison feeding, about three in four, it was moving snow to do it. So how does a one-ton grass-eater reach food it can't see, all winter, without spending more energy than the food gives back? And what is that hump on its shoulders actually for? In Alberta, bison wearing GPS collars avoided feeding in deep snow, even where their favorite plants lay underneath. In Yellowstone, the old story about bison facing into blizzards didn't hold up when a biologist went looking. Have you ever watched a bison in the snow? What was it doing? Tell me in the comments. CHAPTERS 0:00 Food he can't see 1:14 Eating means moving snow 2:42 The hump isn't fat 4:10 What a mouthful costs 6:00 Leaving the best food buried 7:29 Warm ground and borrowed trails 8:48 Built to spend little 10:46 Not every one reaches spring 11:47 What the bison in the snow is doing SOURCES Bjornlie & Garrott (2001), Journal of Wildlife Management: how often Yellowstone bison moved snow to feed and to travel Meagher (1973), NPS Scientific Monograph No. 1: the bison of Yellowstone in deep snow and storms Rawleigh et al. (2024), Ecology and Evolution: where GPS-collared wood bison chose to feed in snow Christopherson, Hudson & Richmond (1978), Acta Theriologica: winter energy use of bison, yak and cattle calves National Park Service, Yellowstone: Bison Ecology National Park Service: Bison Bellows, The winter survivor FOOTAGE National Park Service (public domain): NPS/Neal Herbert, NPS / Steven M. Bumgardner #bison #yellowstone #wildlife