Bison the American Buffalo and the Plains Indians

1. Bison the American Buffaloand the Plains Indians By: Mrs. Cosnowski

2. What’s the Difference? Bison or Buffalo American Plains Buffalo

3. Numbers • Once upon a time anywhere from 30 to 60 million Bison roamed most of North America. The Native Americans relied heavily upon them.

4. How Big????? • A Bison cow (female) can weigh up to 1,200 lbs while a bull (male) can weigh up to 2,000 lbs. and stand 6 ft. tall. A bison calf weighs from 40-50 lbs. at birth. The Native Americans in the plains used these animals for many items such as clothing and food.

5. What They Ate • Bison are plant eaters and feed primarily on grasses. They prefer to move, commonly traveling six miles a day.

6. On the Move • Although they may seem slow and lethargic, bison can move very fast. They can run at speeds in excess of 45 mph and can turn very quickly.

7. Lakota Tribe • "Tatanka" is the name the Lakota use for bison. Historically, the Lakota people relied on the tatanka for food, clothing and shelter.

8. Hunting • Before Christopher Columbus landed in the Americas in 1492, there were no horses in the Western Hemisphere. They had long ago become extinct on this continent. Native Americans had to sneak up on the bison and shoot it with a bow and arrow or run them off a cliff.

9. After Columbus • After horses were introduced to the Americas by the Spaniards, Native Americans used them when available. Guns also be came available, but they still primarily used the bow and arrow to kill the beast. They would try to aim for the lung to bring the beast down.

10. Uses for Bison • Native Americans didn’t let anything go to waist from the Bison. They would use the stomach, bladder, muscle, bones and even the chips. • One item that they used a lot was the hide of the Bison. They would use it for clothing, blankets, and sleeping mats.

11. Dwellings for the Plains Indians • Another use for the Bison hide was the outside covering for Native American homes known as tipi (tepee or teepee).

12. Why A Tipi? • Different tribes built different houses. Often tribes would have permanent villages and traveling villages to hunt for bison. One common form of housing for the Plains Indians was the tipi. The tipi didn’t require a lot of wood which was lacking on the plains. It was also easy to put up and take down so they could follow the bison herds.

13. What Tipis Looked Like • The tipi is not shaped like a right-angle cone. It is sloped so it stands with its "back" to the prevailing wind direction, door on the opposite side.

14. How to Build a Tipi • The tipi is set up by first bracing 3 poles against one another and securing them with rope, then pulling the tripod of tall poles up by a rope hoist. When the rest of the poles have been positioned and lashed at the top, the tipi cover, often made from buffalo hide, is pulled around the framework, as shown. It could take up to 18 hides to cover a full tipi.

15. Numbers Dropped • Although the Bison were very important to the way of life for the Native Americans, the European settlers that started to arrive in the 1600s valued them mostly for their hides. They would hunt the animal only for the hide to sell them. It became a very profitable business. The army also started hunting the bison in the 1800s to try and control the Native American population.

16. Increasing Numbers • By the mid to late 1800’s so many bison had been killed by settlers, hunters trains and Native Americans that the numbers dropped to under 1,000. A huge effort to increase their numbers began in the late 20th century, and now there are over 100,000 in the United States often running in huge herds in Yellowstone National Park and the surrounding areas.

17. Other Uses for Bison • As mentioned before, the Native Americans relied heavily on the Bison for every part of their livelihood. The next thing you’ll be doing is going on line to research for yourself how they used this great animal and writing an informative paragraph to share your findings.