White Buffalo, a Most Interesting Mammal

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• Tags: Elementary Science, mammals, teaching mammals

White Buffalo are extremely rare, and are actually named American Bison (American buffalo).  Different from brown or water buffalo, The White Buffalo is considered to be a sacred sign for Native Americans, and thus have Great Spiritual importance for Prayer and Sacred Ceremony.  Buffalos are normally brown in color; white buffalo come out of their Mother white due to different scientific possibilities, though for some Native American Peoples, it is not scientific at all, but rather a Sacred Sign from The Creator. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_buffalo

• Their eyes may be blue, unlike albinos, and have white fur, meaning, they are leucistic;
• Some rare genetic conditions cause the calf to be born white, though turn brown within a year or two.
• If they are albino, they will be without pigment color throughout their lives, just like albinp people.
• Sometimes farmers have crossbred cattle with bison, and the cross-genetics of white cattle is what causes the white fur to result.

The National Bison Association estimates the occurrence of White Buffalo being born is one out of every 10 million births.

This white calf was born in Janesville, Wisconsin on The Heider Farm, and was  named Miracle, the first one born since 1933.  She lived to be 10 years old and during her life, had several calves.   http://whitebuffalomiracle.homestead.com/Miracle_and_Calves.html

http://whitebuffalomiracle.homestead.com/

http://whitebuffalomiracle2.homestead.com/

The Sacred Lakota People have within their family who is known as The White Buffalo Calf Woman or Pte Ska Win.  She is a Sacred Woman from Pure Spirit origin, who equals The Female Messiah / Shekinah.  In Lakota Spirituality, it is She who brought forth their Peoples’ Seven Sacred Rites.

This link is a photo of a Most Gorgeous Sculpture depicting The White Buffalo Calf Woman with Her Calf.  Sculpted by Artists Lee Leuning & Sherri Treeby, this piece was the winning sculpting in 2009 for the Avero organization:  http://www.avera.org/img/mckennan/sculpture/12-White-Buffalo-Calf-Woman-large.jpg.

Other Buffalo Facts:

Female African Buffalo, in particular, are notable for their apparent altruism. Female buffalo express a sort of shuffling behavior –  in which during resting time, the females stand up, shuffle around, and sit back down again. They then sit in the direction they think that they should move, and after an hour of further shuffling, the females move to travel in the direction they finally decide on. This decision is communal and not based on hierarchy or dominance.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_buffalo.  If hunted by a predator, The Buffalo Herd huddle close together to build their strategy, as like other species, they are stronger when joined together.  Calves remain protected in the middle of the adult members. If a buffalo is under duress, the others move to rescue the other.  If the call is from a calf member, then not only the Mother comes, but the entire herd. In one recorded instance, known as the Battle at Kruger, a calf successfully survived an attack by both lions and a crocodile, after the herd intervened.

Similar to domesticated cattle, Buffalo sing a 2–4 second low pitch call that is repeated at 3-6 second intervals.  This signals the herd to move. When it is time to change direction, herd leaders sing a sound like a creaking gate. When signaling others of a place to drink water, they have an extended maaa’ call, and the call is made by usually one to a few individuals, and is made up to 20 times a minute before and during the movement to the oasis.

Females begin having kids after about 5 years old, and their pregnancies last about 11.5 months. Newborns hide in greenery for the first few weeks, while the Mom nurses now and again, before the Calf joins the main herd. The Maternal bond between Mother and Calf lasts longer than in other species, though if a new Calf is born, the bonding with the first calf ends, and the Mother keeps all other offspring out of the way to protect the newborn – The White Buffalo, a Most Interesting Mammal.

For Our Fun Learning Game about other Mammals, you can visit here!

http://www.science-lessons.ca/games/mammals.html.