Watch These Yellowstone Visitors Get the Fright of their Lives When a Massive Bison Charges

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Watching this encounter between some human visitors to Yellowstone and a huge bison is both hilarious and scary. With comments like “Good morning”, “Shall we back up?” and “Don’t look at him!” together with quite a lot of nervous laughter, you feel like you are in the car with them.

Check this video out! You never know what you are going to meet on the highways of a national park!

What You Need to Know About Bison!

Bison (Bison bison) are the largest land-dwelling mammal in North America. The individual in this clip was huge! These guys can weigh 2,000 pounds but are also agile and can reach speeds of 35 mph. They can also jump five feet high!

Bison are mainly active during the day and at dusk and live in groups called herds. In the summer, these herds can be made up of hundreds of animals.

Bison often appear docile but they, together with elk, are responsible for most of the human-wildlife encounters in the park. They are also responsible for many of the traffic build-ups that happen in the area!

Bison in Yellowstone – Facts and Figures

Bison is one of the major attractions in Yellowstone National Park. As of summer 2022, there were 5,900 bison in total in the park. The population can be split into the northern breeding herd of around 4,460 bison and the central breeding herd of around 1,360 bison.

They can be seen all year round at the Hayden and Lamar valleys. In the summer months, you can also spot them on the park grasslands, and in winter head to the hydrothermal areas and along the Madison River, Blacktail Deer Plateau, Tower, and the Gardiner Basin for some bison-spotting opportunities.

Things have not always been great for bison in this area. They were almost driven to extinction by hunting in the 1800s. However, thanks to protective measures their numbers have increased.

These guys typically spend between nine and 11 hours each day eating grass and sedges. They are the most important bison herd in the US so give them a bit of space on the highways!

Is it Normal Behavior for Bison to Charge People?

The short answer here is, yes! Bison stand out as one of the most unpredictable and dangerous creatures that visitors encounter in North American national parks. Bison won’t hesitate to attack humans if provoked. Despite their seemingly sluggish movements, bison can out run humans with ease, as they’ve been observed sprinting at speeds of 40 to 45 mph.