YELLOWSTONE—Yellowstone National Park has confirmed there is a white bison calf in the park. According to a park news release, the white bison was born on June 4 in Lamar Valley. Several people have seen the calf between park visitors, professional wildlife watchers, commercial guides and researchers. However, park staff have not been able to find it.
The white calf has created a stir of excitement. Biologists indicate the calf is not albino, but in fact leucistic because of its dark hooves and eyes. In a Yellowstone National Park press release, Yellowstone shares that a white bison calf is a natural phenomenon that occurs every 1 in a million births.
East Idaho News reports that about 500 participants from multiple tribes gathered together for the naming ceremony for the white bison. After a celebration full of dancing and singing, the name for the white buffalo was announced: Wakan Gli, which means “Return Sacred” in Lakota.
The Lakota belief says that White Buffalo Calf Woman appeared to a tribe member when food was scarce and promised that the bowl pipe and bundle she gave to the member would bring nearby buffalo to feed his tribe. She then turned into a white buffalo calf and promised to return one day as the white buffalo calf when times got rough again.
The Lakota belief warns that the appearance of this white buffalo is also a message to take better care of the earth. Nearly 2,000 years later, Wakan Gli was born and has not been seen since, both by park goers and by park staff.
In the same Yellowstone press release, it is reported that each Spring, about 1 in 5 bison calves die shortly after birth, due to natural hazards.