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TRUMPETER SWAN FAMILY.

Greatly different in appearance and size, these are two of Yellowstone's once vanishing species. The trumpeter swan has had at least a temporary new lease on life through the protective efforts of the National Park Service in Yellowstone National Park and the Fish and Wildlife Service at the nearby Red Rock Lakes Migratory Waterfowl Refuge. In 1935 an actual count showed only 73 of the these graceful white birds in the United States. The 1955 census showed a trumpeter population of 590 throughout the United States, mostly in Montana and Wyoming. The disturbing thing is that 50 less birds were counted in 1955 than in the preceding year.

There is no doubt about the comeback of the buffalo, or American bison. Reduced from an estimated 60,000,000 in the United States in 1870 to a known total of 541 at the close of the century, extinction seemed almost certain. In 1901, 25 buffalo roamed the Yellowstone. The next year, in an effort to save the species, 18 cows and 3 bulls were imported from privately-owned herds. By 1908 the herd had responded so favorably that it had outgrown available range. For many years, under Congressional authority, buffalo in excess of 1,000 have been given to State and other Government agencies and to private zoos and otherwise disposed of. Most of the important herds in this country today were founded, at least in part, with animals from the Yellowstone.

THE THUNDERING HERD. (Copyright Haynes Studios Inc.)

Last Modified: Sat, Oct 5 2002 10:00:00 pm PDT
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