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Dale F. Lott
American Bison
A Natural History
$17.95, £12.95 paperback
978-0-520-24062-9
Available Now
245 pages, 6 x 9 inches, 40 b/w photographs, 2 maps
September 2002, Available worldwide
Categories: Organismal Biology; Mammalogy; Animals; Animal Behavior
September 2002, Available worldwide
Categories: Organismal Biology; Mammalogy; Animals; Animal Behavior
Downloadable eBook version available:
Adobe E-Reader at ebooks.com, $15.95
Adobe E-Reader at ebooks.com, $15.95
"In this rich and enthusiastic narrative, Lott uses exuberant humor and great passion for his subject to elicit reader interest, illuminating the biological and mythical bison--popularly known as the buffalo--and what they tell us about nature, human and otherwise."—Los Angeles Times
"This rare jewel of a book is the most extensive description of bison natural history ever published. It will be of value to the scholar as a synthesis and state-of-the-art review, but at the same time it is fun, witty, intriguing, often fascinating, and targeted to the educated lay reader….Highly recommended for all academic and public libraries."—Library Journal, starred review 9/1/02
"Movingly written and scientifically persuasive."—Washington Post Book World
"Dale Lott relies on imagination and careful science to rebuild the world of the bison. Merging a lifetime of research with his own quirky enthusiasm for the topic, Lott delivers an informative yet hugely entertaining story full of passion, humor, and deep personal knowledge."—David Lucas, California Wild
"This rare jewel of a book is the most extensive description of bison natural history ever published. It will be of value to the scholar as a synthesis and state-of-the-art review, but at the same time it is fun, witty, intriguing, often fascinating, and targeted to the educated lay reader….Highly recommended for all academic and public libraries."—Library Journal, starred review 9/1/02
"Movingly written and scientifically persuasive."—Washington Post Book World
"Dale Lott relies on imagination and careful science to rebuild the world of the bison. Merging a lifetime of research with his own quirky enthusiasm for the topic, Lott delivers an informative yet hugely entertaining story full of passion, humor, and deep personal knowledge."—David Lucas, California Wild
"This is the best book I've read about American bison and their habitat. It is vivid, concise, witty, erudite, first-hand, and up-to-date. Most important, it argues convincingly that the only way to assure survival of bison and their habitat in the wild is to establish a Great Plains National Park at least 5,000 square miles in extent."—David Rains Wallace, author of The Bonehunter's Revenge: Dinosaurs, Greed, and the Great Scientific Feud of the Gilded Age
"Dr. Lott's scholarship is strong and thorough. American Bison presents an extensive, state-of-the-art review of key points of American bison that are unaddressed or under-addressed by previous books. Moreover, it does it in a popularized, often narrative form that makes the material comprehensible to the educated lay reader as well as to the bison scholar."—James H. Shaw, Department of Zoology, Oklahoma State University
"Dr. Lott's scholarship is strong and thorough. American Bison presents an extensive, state-of-the-art review of key points of American bison that are unaddressed or under-addressed by previous books. Moreover, it does it in a popularized, often narrative form that makes the material comprehensible to the educated lay reader as well as to the bison scholar."—James H. Shaw, Department of Zoology, Oklahoma State University
American Bison combines the latest scientific information and one man's personal experience in an homage to one of the most magnificent animals to have roamed America's vast, vanished grasslands. Dale F. Lott, a distinguished behavioral ecologist who was born on the National Bison Range and has studied the buffalo for many years, relates what is known about this iconic animal's life in the wild and its troubled history with humans. Written with unusual grace and verve, American Bison takes us on a journey into the bison's past and shares a compelling vision for its future, offering along the way a valuable introduction to North American prairie ecology.
We become Lott's companions in the field as he acquaints us with the social life and physiology of the bison, sharing stories about its impressive physical prowess and fascinating relationships. Describing the entire grassland community in which the bison live, he writes about the wolves, pronghorn, prairie dogs, grizzly bears, and other animals and plants, detailing the interdependent relationships among these inhabitants of a lost landscape. Lott also traces the long and dramatic relationship between the bison and Native Americans, and gives a surprising look at the history of the hide hunts that delivered the coup de grâce to the already dwindling bison population in a few short years.
This book gives us a peek at the rich and unique ways of life that evolved in the heart of America. Lott also dismantles many of the myths we have created about these ways of life, and about the bison in particular, to reveal the animal itself: ruminating, reproducing, and rutting in its full glory. His portrait of the bison ultimately becomes a plea to conserve its wildness and an eloquent meditation on the importance of the wild in our lives.
We become Lott's companions in the field as he acquaints us with the social life and physiology of the bison, sharing stories about its impressive physical prowess and fascinating relationships. Describing the entire grassland community in which the bison live, he writes about the wolves, pronghorn, prairie dogs, grizzly bears, and other animals and plants, detailing the interdependent relationships among these inhabitants of a lost landscape. Lott also traces the long and dramatic relationship between the bison and Native Americans, and gives a surprising look at the history of the hide hunts that delivered the coup de grâce to the already dwindling bison population in a few short years.
This book gives us a peek at the rich and unique ways of life that evolved in the heart of America. Lott also dismantles many of the myths we have created about these ways of life, and about the bison in particular, to reveal the animal itself: ruminating, reproducing, and rutting in its full glory. His portrait of the bison ultimately becomes a plea to conserve its wildness and an eloquent meditation on the importance of the wild in our lives.
List of Illustrations
Foreword
Preface
Part One. Relationships, Relationships
1. Bull to Bull and Cow to Bull
2. Cow to Cow
3. Cow to Calf
Part Two. The Machinery of a Bison's Life
4. Bison Athletics
5. Digestion: Grass to Gas and Chips
6. Temperature Control
Part Three. Whence They Came Forth, and How Much They Multiplied
7. Ancestors and Relatives
8. How Many? Bison Population in Primitive America
Part Four. The Bison's Neighborhood
9. The Central Grassland: Where Buffalo Roam When They're at Home
Part Five. The Bison's Neighbors
10. Wolves and Bison: Myths and Realities
11. Buffalo Birds
12. Diseases and Parasites
13. Pronghorn
14. Prairie Dogs
15. Badgers
16. Coyotes
17. Grizzlies
18. Ferrets
Part Six. Human and Buffalo
19. Close Encounters of the Buffalo Kind
20. To Kill a Bison
21. Bison Numbers before the Great Slaughter
22. Where Have All the Bison Gone?
23. Attitudes
24. Conservation: Then and Now
25. A Great Plains Park
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Foreword
Preface
Part One. Relationships, Relationships
1. Bull to Bull and Cow to Bull
2. Cow to Cow
3. Cow to Calf
Part Two. The Machinery of a Bison's Life
4. Bison Athletics
5. Digestion: Grass to Gas and Chips
6. Temperature Control
Part Three. Whence They Came Forth, and How Much They Multiplied
7. Ancestors and Relatives
8. How Many? Bison Population in Primitive America
Part Four. The Bison's Neighborhood
9. The Central Grassland: Where Buffalo Roam When They're at Home
Part Five. The Bison's Neighbors
10. Wolves and Bison: Myths and Realities
11. Buffalo Birds
12. Diseases and Parasites
13. Pronghorn
14. Prairie Dogs
15. Badgers
16. Coyotes
17. Grizzlies
18. Ferrets
Part Six. Human and Buffalo
19. Close Encounters of the Buffalo Kind
20. To Kill a Bison
21. Bison Numbers before the Great Slaughter
22. Where Have All the Bison Gone?
23. Attitudes
24. Conservation: Then and Now
25. A Great Plains Park
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Bring Back the Buffalo! A Sustainable Future for America's Great Plains, by Ernest Callenbach
Survival by Hunting: Prehistoric Human Predators and Animal Prey, by George C. Frison
Folsom : New Archaeological Investigations of a Classic Paleoindian Bison Kill, by David J. Meltzer
Survival by Hunting: Prehistoric Human Predators and Animal Prey, by George C. Frison
Folsom : New Archaeological Investigations of a Classic Paleoindian Bison Kill, by David J. Meltzer
Read obituary for Professor Lott at the UC Davis website.