Tribes honor prophetic birth of rare white buffalo calf in Yellowstone: ‘It’s like a miracle to us’ (2024)

AP Spotlight

AMY BETH HANSON and MEAD GRUVER Associated Press
Jun 27, 2024
Jun 27, 2024 Updated Jun 27, 2024
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WEST YELLOWSTONE, Mont. — Dancing, drumming, singing and the retelling of how a mysterious woman brought a message of reassurance during hard times featured in Native American religious ceremonies that commemorated a recent rare event in Yellowstone National Park.

Earlier this month, a white buffalo calfwas bornin the park's vast and lush Lamar Valley, where huge, lumbering bison graze by the hundreds in scenes reminiscent of the old American West.

Tribes honor prophetic birth of rare white buffalo calf in Yellowstone: ‘It’s like a miracle to us’ (1)

To the several tribeswho revere American bison— they call them “buffalo” — the calf's appearance was both the fulfillment of sacred prophecy and a message to take better care of the Earth.

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“It’s up to each and every one of you to make it happen for the future of our children. We must come together and bring that good energy back,” Chief Arvol Looking Horse said at the ceremonies Wednesday a few miles west of Yellowstone, in far southern Montana.

Looking Horse is spiritual leader of the Lakota, Dakota and the Nakota Oyate in South Dakota and the 19th keeper of the sacred White Buffalo Calf Woman Pipe and Bundle. He describes the white buffalo calf's appearance as both a blessing and a warning about the natural environment.

Tribes honor prophetic birth of rare white buffalo calf in Yellowstone: ‘It’s like a miracle to us’ (2)

Tribes honor prophetic birth of rare white buffalo calf in Yellowstone: ‘It’s like a miracle to us’ (3)

The calf will be known as Wakan Gli, or “Return Sacred” in Lakota, he announced.

About 500 people — including representatives of the Colville Tribes in Washington, Lakota and Sioux in the Dakotas, Northern Arapaho in Wyoming, and Shoshone-Bannock in Idaho — attended the ceremonies at the headquarters of Buffalo Field Campaign between Hebgen Lake and the southern reach of the Madison Range. The conservation group works with tribes to protect and honor wild buffalo.

At most, only a handful of people got a look at the calf soon after its birth June 4. Fewer still got photos to prove its existence. The calf has not been seen since.

Each passing week without a sighting adds to suspicions the calf has fallen victim to predators, river currents, illness or any number of hazards for young buffalo. Regardless, it was an auspicious sign with deep roots in Lakota legend and spiritual belief.

Some 2,000 years ago — when nothing was good, food was running out and bison were disappearing — White Buffalo Calf Woman appeared and presented a bowl pipe and a bundle to a tribal member and said the pipe could be used to bring buffalo to the area for food.

As she left, she turned into a white buffalo calf. She promised to return one day, when times are hard again, as a white buffalo calf with black nose, black eyes and black hooves.

Tribes honor prophetic birth of rare white buffalo calf in Yellowstone: ‘It’s like a miracle to us’ (4)

Tribes honor prophetic birth of rare white buffalo calf in Yellowstone: ‘It’s like a miracle to us’ (5)

“This is a very momentous time in our history when this white buffalo calf with black nose, black eyes, black hooves, is born,” Looking Horse said.

White calves are unusual but not unheard of on buffalo ranches, a result of interbreeding between buffalo and cattle. White bison in nature are another level of rare, with none known in Yellowstone — the continent's largest wild reserve of the animals — in recent memory, if ever.

Faith

Reported birth of rare white buffalo calf in Yellowstone park fulfills Lakota prophecy

AMY BETH HANSON Associated Press

This calf came aftera severe winter in 2023drove thousands of Yellowstone buffalo to lower elevations. More than 1,500 were killed, sent to slaughter or transferred to tribes seeking to reclaim stewardship over an animal their ancestorslived alongside for millennia.

Jordan Creech, who guides in Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks, was one of a few people who captured images of the white buffalo calf.

Creech was guiding a photography tour when he spotted a cow buffalo about to give birth near the Lamar River. The buffalo disappeared over a hill and the group continued to a place where grizzly bears had been spotted, Creech said.

Tribes honor prophetic birth of rare white buffalo calf in Yellowstone: ‘It’s like a miracle to us’ (7)

Tribes honor prophetic birth of rare white buffalo calf in Yellowstone: ‘It’s like a miracle to us’ (8)

They returned later and saw the cow with its calf, Creech said. It was clear the calf had just been born, he said, calling it amazing timing.

“And I noted to my guests that it was oddly white, but I didn’t announce that it was a white bison, because, you know, why would I just assume that I just witnessed the very first white bison birth in recorded history in Yellowstone?” he said.

A look at the largest Native American tribes in the US today

Biggest Native American tribes in the U.S. today

Tribes honor prophetic birth of rare white buffalo calf in Yellowstone: ‘It’s like a miracle to us’ (9)

#42. Tsimshian (Alaska Native)

Tribes honor prophetic birth of rare white buffalo calf in Yellowstone: ‘It’s like a miracle to us’ (11)

#41. Cree

Tribes honor prophetic birth of rare white buffalo calf in Yellowstone: ‘It’s like a miracle to us’ (12)

#40. Yuman

Tribes honor prophetic birth of rare white buffalo calf in Yellowstone: ‘It’s like a miracle to us’ (13)

#38. Arapaho

Tribes honor prophetic birth of rare white buffalo calf in Yellowstone: ‘It’s like a miracle to us’ (14)

#37. Colville

Tribes honor prophetic birth of rare white buffalo calf in Yellowstone: ‘It’s like a miracle to us’ (15)

#36. Ottawa

Tribes honor prophetic birth of rare white buffalo calf in Yellowstone: ‘It’s like a miracle to us’ (16)

#35. Menominee

Tribes honor prophetic birth of rare white buffalo calf in Yellowstone: ‘It’s like a miracle to us’ (17)

#34. Kiowa

Tribes honor prophetic birth of rare white buffalo calf in Yellowstone: ‘It’s like a miracle to us’ (18)

#33. Ute

Tribes honor prophetic birth of rare white buffalo calf in Yellowstone: ‘It’s like a miracle to us’ (19)

#32. Houma

Tribes honor prophetic birth of rare white buffalo calf in Yellowstone: ‘It’s like a miracle to us’ (20)

#31. Crow

Tribes honor prophetic birth of rare white buffalo calf in Yellowstone: ‘It’s like a miracle to us’ (21)

#30. Shoshone

Tribes honor prophetic birth of rare white buffalo calf in Yellowstone: ‘It’s like a miracle to us’ (22)

#29. Paiute

Tribes honor prophetic birth of rare white buffalo calf in Yellowstone: ‘It’s like a miracle to us’ (23)

#28. Cheyenne

Tribes honor prophetic birth of rare white buffalo calf in Yellowstone: ‘It’s like a miracle to us’ (24)

#27. Puget Sound Salish

Tribes honor prophetic birth of rare white buffalo calf in Yellowstone: ‘It’s like a miracle to us’ (25)

#26. Osage

Tribes honor prophetic birth of rare white buffalo calf in Yellowstone: ‘It’s like a miracle to us’ (26)

#25. Aleut (Alaska Native)

Tribes honor prophetic birth of rare white buffalo calf in Yellowstone: ‘It’s like a miracle to us’ (27)

#24. Delaware

Tribes honor prophetic birth of rare white buffalo calf in Yellowstone: ‘It’s like a miracle to us’ (28)

#23. Hopi

Tribes honor prophetic birth of rare white buffalo calf in Yellowstone: ‘It’s like a miracle to us’ (29)

#22. Alaskan Athabascan (Alaska Native)

Tribes honor prophetic birth of rare white buffalo calf in Yellowstone: ‘It’s like a miracle to us’ (30)

#21. Comanche

Tribes honor prophetic birth of rare white buffalo calf in Yellowstone: ‘It’s like a miracle to us’ (31)

#20. Tlingit-Haida (Alaska Native)

Tribes honor prophetic birth of rare white buffalo calf in Yellowstone: ‘It’s like a miracle to us’ (32)

#19. Pima

Tribes honor prophetic birth of rare white buffalo calf in Yellowstone: ‘It’s like a miracle to us’ (33)

#18. Tohono O'odham

Tribes honor prophetic birth of rare white buffalo calf in Yellowstone: ‘It’s like a miracle to us’ (34)

#17. Seminole

Tribes honor prophetic birth of rare white buffalo calf in Yellowstone: ‘It’s like a miracle to us’ (35)

#16. Potawatomi

Tribes honor prophetic birth of rare white buffalo calf in Yellowstone: ‘It’s like a miracle to us’ (36)

#15. Iñupiat (Alaska Native)

Tribes honor prophetic birth of rare white buffalo calf in Yellowstone: ‘It’s like a miracle to us’ (37)

#13. Yaqui

Tribes honor prophetic birth of rare white buffalo calf in Yellowstone: ‘It’s like a miracle to us’ (38)

#12. Chickasaw

Tribes honor prophetic birth of rare white buffalo calf in Yellowstone: ‘It’s like a miracle to us’ (39)

#11. Pueblo

Tribes honor prophetic birth of rare white buffalo calf in Yellowstone: ‘It’s like a miracle to us’ (40)

#10. Lumbee

Tribes honor prophetic birth of rare white buffalo calf in Yellowstone: ‘It’s like a miracle to us’ (41)

#9. Creek

Tribes honor prophetic birth of rare white buffalo calf in Yellowstone: ‘It’s like a miracle to us’ (42)

#8. Iroquois

Tribes honor prophetic birth of rare white buffalo calf in Yellowstone: ‘It’s like a miracle to us’ (43)

#7. Apache

Tribes honor prophetic birth of rare white buffalo calf in Yellowstone: ‘It’s like a miracle to us’ (44)

#6. Blackfeet

Tribes honor prophetic birth of rare white buffalo calf in Yellowstone: ‘It’s like a miracle to us’ (45)

#5. Sioux

Tribes honor prophetic birth of rare white buffalo calf in Yellowstone: ‘It’s like a miracle to us’ (46)

#4. Chippewa

Tribes honor prophetic birth of rare white buffalo calf in Yellowstone: ‘It’s like a miracle to us’ (47)

#3. Choctaw

Tribes honor prophetic birth of rare white buffalo calf in Yellowstone: ‘It’s like a miracle to us’ (48)

#2. Navajo

Tribes honor prophetic birth of rare white buffalo calf in Yellowstone: ‘It’s like a miracle to us’ (49)

#1. Cherokee

Tribes honor prophetic birth of rare white buffalo calf in Yellowstone: ‘It’s like a miracle to us’ (50)