American Bison (Buffalo) Jumps

Very cool Albertan site with a funny anecdote:

In Blackfoot, the name for the site is Estipah-skikikini-kots. According to legend, a young Blackfoot wanted to watch the buffalo plunge off the cliff from below, but was buried underneath the falling buffalo. He was later found dead under the pile of carcasses "where he got his head smashed in."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head-Smashed-In_Buffalo_Jump

Apparently if you go under the cliff where they "jumped", and kick up the dust, it's all white from the bones.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinto_horse
Natives bred this type of horse coat into the horses for use in Bison hunting.
"The color became popular, particularly among Native Americans, and was specifically bred for in the United States, which now has the greatest number of Pinto horses in the world."

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• Buffalo
• Bison
• Amerindians
• Kill
• Horses
• Pinto

[rbarletta11]

joke

[ischnura]

Interesting story! I had never heard about buffalo jumps :)

[CosmicRevolutionKS]

thats pretty nifty!

[brokendave]

You would make an excellent anthropology teacher. I had forgotten about buffalo jumps.

[Eldel15]

Interesting Ive been to a museum which was near a buffalo jump

[REXMARX003]

Nice story - I learned a little