BONDURANT, Wyo. — In December 2021, two white bison were brought from Jackson Fork Ranch in Bondurant, Wyoming, to Bear River State Park (BRSP), where one of the bison has now given birth to a white calf.
According to a press release from the BRSP, the two white bison were brought as heifer calves for visitor viewing and educational, interpretive purposes. The white bison have a small amount of Charolais cattle DNA, which contains a pigment dilution mutation that gives them their white color.
This white coloring is different from albinism, which affects the production of melanin and is statistically more rare.
The white calf, born on May 16, is the product of a traditional brown bull and one of the white cows, the BRSP staff says. This gave the new calf a chance of being either color.
“I do want people to understand that these animals are not inferior because they have cattle DNA,” Park Superintendent Tyfani Sager said in the press release.
According to the National Park Service, many indigenous tribes including the Oceti Sakowin (Sioux), Aniyvwiya (Cherokee), Dine’ (Navaho), Lakota and Dakota “celebrate the white buffalo calf and incorporate Ptesan Wi’s teachings in their prayers…To American Indians, a white buffalo calf is the most sacred living thing on earth. The calf is a sign to begin life’s sacred loop. The birth is sacred within the American Indian communities, because it brings a sense of hope and is a sign that good times are about to happen.”
The new white bison calf’s gender has not yet been released.
