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| American Bison: A Natural History (Organisms and Environments, 6) | 
| Author: Dale F. Lott
Creator: Harry W. Greene
Publisher: University of California Press
Category: Book
List Price: $17.95
Buy Used: $8.90
You Save: $9.05 (50%)
New (15) from $15.33
Avg. Customer Rating:  10 reviews
Sales Rank: 131212
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 245
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 6 x 0.7
ISBN: 0520240626
Dewey Decimal Number: 599.643
EAN: 9780520240629
ASIN: 0520240626
Publication Date: November 1, 2003
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Superb, crisp, clean, unread paperback with very light shelfwear to the covers and publisher's mark to one edge - GREAT!
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| Customer Reviews:
| Showing reviews 1-5 of 10 | | NEXT » |
 Buffalo for Dummies August 2, 2007
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
I searched for this book in my local library to read before buying. After reading it, I decided it was not worth my money.
I first must say I have quiet a bit of expereince with Buffalo since I have raised them for almost 15 years. Actually you could say they have taught me how to satisfy their needs so they don't leave my ranch. My herd started at two animals and grew to over 50 at one time.
I was hoping to read a more indepth description of buffalo biology and behavior. Unfortunately I consider this a rather shallow explaination of buffalo behavior. There are parts of the book that I must agree, however. Buffalo are wild animals therefore are often unpredictable. They are large, fast and protective of their young. A buffalo can kill you very quickly and anyone who thinks they have tamed a buffalo can be seriously surprised.
The author seems to believe that the only real buffalo is a wild animal fenced in a national park. In numerious pages he speaks negatively of ranchers who raise buffalo for meat or other products. Any reader should understand that 90% of all buffalo in the US are privately owned. The original surviving buffalo were privately owned. Governements, both US and Canada have only a small portion of the existing population.
One item of interest to me is how the scientific community estimated the maximum herd size of the American Buffalo. The process is rather shallow in its data and the estimation procedure. Several of the assumptions used in the calculation do not reflect actual buffalo behavior.
Oh well, enough of my critisizum. If you want to learn about buffalo read this book but do not consider it complete or accurate. Search out a buffalo herd and visit it. There are herds in every state including AK & HI. Private ranchers will tell and teach you more indepth knowledge than this elementary primer on the subject.
 Should be required reading for Americans. March 29, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
What a great job of telling the story of the American Bison and the ecology of the Great Plains! Dale Lott writes in such a pleasing style, the book was a pleasure from start to finish. Having recently moved to a spot in Wyoming where bison are roaming around my house, I wanted to learn more about them. The book delivered beautifully. Buy it!
Awesome, whether or not you like bison July 9, 2005
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
This is one of those books that should leap into your shopping cart even if you're not inherently interested in the topic. This is easily the best book I've read on any animal, though some books on wolves come close. Given the totemic role of the bison in American culture and history, it's an important book as well.
I'm not particularly interested in bison, and used to see them as dumb cow-like animals you see everywhere in Yellowstone. I now have much greater respect for the animal. I've also learned the answers to burning questions such as "why, if they are both prairie grazers, are pronghorns (usually) territorial while bison are not?"
Lott likes to tell stories as a way to present natural history. This strategy is very effective. He is a professor emeritus of natural history but wears his learning lightly, in part because of these stories.
Lott is also uniquely qualified to write this book. He grew up on the national bison range, so he has been around these animals all his life. It's easy to imagine walking the prairie with Lott, listening to his stories about bison. He tells stories and explains nature as well as Bernd Heinrich, though Lott is less quirky (which could be either a good thing or a bad thing).
Though the book is short, it's pretty exhaustive in its coverage of the bison. He covers habitat, behavior, some other animals in the ecosystem (badgers, coyotes, black-footed ferrets, prairie dogs), relations with humans, and conservation issues.
I don't normally praise a book's production values, but kudos to the University of California Press for making a beautiful trade paperback. You can get a sense of this from the cover picture here at Amazon. The layout and organization, the photographic plates in the middle of the book, and the pictures at the head of each part (group of chapters) look great. It's a pleasure to hold in your hands as you read it.
The book makes an argument for a large grasslands park, probably in conjunction with Canada's Grasslands NP. This argumentation isn't particularly effective, though. If you're inclined to favor such an idea, Lott will have an emotional appeal to you. If you're opposed, you won't get any hard-nosed arguments that will try to persuade you to change your mind. (In either case, I would recommend Manning's "Grassland" as making a more powerful case for such a park.)
Anyway, check out all the other reviews. Everybody loves this book and you will too.
 Anyone interested in the American Bison should own this book April 8, 2005
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
Not just a book about the American Bison (commonly called Buffalo)itself but also just about anything connected with them. You'll get information about herd ranges- past & present, current population estimates (and worries about the future of the herd, and scholars best guesses about what historical numbers might have been.
Dr. Lott writes extensively about behavior of the bison, some of this comes from 3 generations of personal family experience and includes items I hadn't read or heard of before. You'll even find extensive material about plant and other animal life that live with these animals and how many of them are interrelated.
He even covers the human/hunting aspects and their effects on what the bison was/is. Someone out to hunt buffalo might get some hints but the book isn't aimed at them.
If you've ever seen a buffalo you'll want this book, you really ought to consider it even if you don't ever plan on looking them up (That is the skimpiest part of the book, finding out just where the remaining bison herds are today).
I gave $40 for the hardcover, I think the paperback is $11.95, not cheap but a pretty good value for one of the best bison books I've got.
Best book I read in 2004 March 17, 2005
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I can't believe it's true, but it was the best book for me in 2004. Of course, I have a particular interest in bison and prairie wildlife but most of the books I read on those subjects are pretty dull and a chore to work through.
In stark contrast, Lott's book is a joy to read. Just because a species is interesting doesn't ensure that a book on it will be. Lott gives these amazing creatures the treatment they deserve. The reader can tell that Lott really enjoyed writing this book. His writing is entertaining, humorous when appropriate and packed with a ton of information.
Eveb if you're not into wildlife, bison or the prairie, I'd still recommend this book. Bison are an important part of the ecology, history and psychology of this nation. Lott reminds us that bison are in our blood.
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Wildlife, nature and the Environment
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