If you ask me, this was one of the biggest tragedies of the old west. Buffalo may live to be about 20 years of age. It was over-hunted nearly to extinction, but with careful breeding programs and preserves to protect them the buffalo has been removed from the Endangered Species List. The same reference also states Yellowstone National Park has the only population of free-roaming bison. The extinction of American Buffalos brought these beautiful animals to the endangered species list! From over 50 MILLION animals roaming the plains, we were left with only a few hundred. Buffalo (American bison) have inhabited North America for more than 200,000 years. A new relationship among the buffalo, the American Indian and the United States government has been developing. Instead, private and public conservation efforts gradually nudged their population upward, with the greatest increase occurring in the last 40 years. If so, you may be able to finish this sentence: “Oh, give me a home…" If you said, “Where the buffalo roam," then today's Wonder of the Day is for you! Worldwide, there are about 500 animals listed as endangered and 39 listed as threatened. Significance The near extinction of bison from North America was significant for several reasons. These animals are being unnecessarily rounded up and slaughtered—at taxpayer expense—due to exaggerated concerns about disease risks to a … A good buffalo skin would sell for $3 in Kansas, and a finished buffalo-hide winter coat would sell for $50. There was a huge market for buffalo skins and hides in the Northeast United States and in Europe. The buffalo was first and foremost of utmost significance to people of the plains and prairies. A good buffalo skin would sell for $3 in Kansas, and a finished buffalo-hide winter coat would sell for $50. Of those only 16,000 roam in the wild. Buffalo begin grazing (primarily on grasses) while still very young, although some may continue to nurse until they are nearly a year old. Buffalo leather was also well suited and in high demand for the belts used in pulleys and for steam engines in factories of the time. Buffalo are extinct, and although the bison belongs to the same family, they are not the same animal. The change in status for the clover came about thanks to a number of state, federal and private conservation partners working together for over three decades. Bison were almost driven to extinction—in 1900 there were only about 300 of them left. Although their numbers shrank to a perilously small figure at the end of the 19th century due to overhunting, bison weren't federally classified as an endangered species in the United States. This in not completely true. Today, approximately 250,000 remain in the United States. There are about 400 animals in the United States who are listed as endangered, and about 130 that are threatened. The American buffalo … In Canada, four provinces and two territories list bison as both wildlife and livestock. There was a huge market for buffalo skins and hides in the Northeast United States and in Europe. Within 100 years of the Lewis & Clark expedition, which paved the way for western settlement of the United States, however, the bison had almost disappeared from western ranges.