White Bison! (5 images)

It is always a treat for me to see bison on the range. But today I got a very special treat. There is a pretty large herd of extremely rare, white bison north of St Mary, MT, near the border with Canada. How large is "large"? I'm not sure, but I estimate that we saw well over 30 of them.

Some info I've gathered from the internet, first spiritual: Several Native American tribes consider them sacred and visit them for prayer and other sacred rituals.

Scientific: White bison (commonly referred to as "buffalo") could be the result of several different conditions.

1. They may be albinos and so will remain unpigmented throughout their lives. Albinos have pink eyes.

2. They may be leucitic, with white fur but blue eyes.

3. They may have a rare genetic condition which causes them to be born white but to become brown within a year or two.

4. They may be a beefalo, a bison-cattle crossbreed.

I don't know which of these fit the herd I saw today, although the eyes don't appear to be pink. (I'm thinking beefalo.) I just know I was excited to be able to see them! If I had not been on a quick, half-day trip with friends to see Waterton National Park, I would have stayed a lot longer!