Buffalo Facts Buffalo have an average lifespan of
Buffalo Facts: • Buffalo have an average lifespan of 20 to 40 years. • Buffalo are very fast runners (65 km/hr) but are also very fast in the water too! • Buffalo are the heaviest land animal in North America, averaging about 1600 lbs!
Buffalo Facts: • For ~6000 years First Nation people hunted buffalo with weapons & tools. They also would hunt them by ‘stampeding’ them over cliffs. • Example: Head Smashed in Buffalo Jump, Alberta.
Buffalo Facts: • 30 to 50 million buffalo once ranged freely from northern Canada to northern Mexico. • After European contact, buffalo started drastically reducing in numbers! This was due to: ◦ Massive settlements. ◦ Introduction of rifles. ◦ Unregulated hunting.
Buffalo Facts: • By 1889 the buffalo population had decreased to only 1100! • Today there are ~5000 buffalo in Canada, living in protected areas in southern & northwestern Saskatchewan, northeastern BC , and Northwest Territories.
First Nation Wisdom Keepers & Story Telling • First Nation story telling is very important as it is how they pass on their traditions and cultural practices and beliefs. • Only ‘Wisdom Keepers’ have the right to pass on First nation stories. ◦ This is a great honour, and one must be trained before receiving the right to pass on the stories. ◦ These stories are considered ‘admissible evidence’ and are considered to be fact.
‘Honouring the Buffalo’ • The ‘Creator & Buffalo’ portion of this story is told by Ray Lavallee. He is a ‘Wisdom Keeper’ and ‘Medicine Man’ from the Piapot Cree First Nations. • In this story really pay attention to how many uses the buffalo really had to First Nations people.
- Slides: 10