Wind Cave bison herd

As an active participant in the conservation of American bison, it is believed to be one of only seven free-roaming and genetically pure herds on public lands in North America.

The Wind Cave population has served as the foundation stock for the Tallgrass Prairie bison herd in Kansas.

[3] The National Park Service is working with The Nature Conservancy to establish additional satellite herds with the goal of having a total population of at least 1,000 breeding bison of Wind Cave lineage.

[4][5] Wind Cave National Park has large areas of grassland prairie and this provides a nearly optimum environment for American bison.

American bison can run up to 35 miles (56 km) per hour and are surprisingly agile, in addition to their notable strength.

Wind Cave National Park by itself, at 33,847 acres, is part of a much larger area of extended grassland prairie.

Genetic testing shows that there now appear to be some cattle genes present in approximately 95% of the bison surveyed in other areas.

With the advent of nuclear microsatellite DNA testing, the number of herds that are known to contain cattle genes has increased.

Private groups, as well as governmental entities in the United States and Canada, are making efforts to return Bison to much of their previous natural range.

No evidence of cross breeding with these bison has yet been found, but many biologists feel that extra care should be taken with these animals in the future.