Bear River State Park near Evanston, Wyoming welcomed its newest resident earlier this month: an extremely rare white baby bison. And the chances of a white bison being born are so rare that the National Bison Association puts it at one in 10 million.
The calf, weighing in at 30 pounds, was born to a two-year-old mother named Wyoming Hope—one of two resident white bisons living in the park. So in the grand scheme of things, the calf's coloring is not quite as unusual given its DNA. The new arrival hasn't been named yet and park officials have yet to determine its gender.
"We’re not sure if it’s a bull calf or a heifer calf," park superintendent Tyfani Sager told the Cowboy State Daily. "They’re real furry and it’s hard to tell right off the bat."
Interestingly enough, the unique coloring of both the calf and mother is due to inbreeding with cattle, not a condition such as albinism or leucism.
"Most of the bison you find anymore have some cattle genetics," Sager added. "They were nearly hunted to extinction by the late 1800s. People got concerned about extinction and cattle inbreeding was used. A white bison birth is still fairly rare."
The state park shared a photo of the calf and mother looking healthy on May 16. "Please continue to give the bison room to try out motherhood and tend to their young," it wrote, as visitors should always maintain an ample distance from wildlife.
On top of being rare, white bison are believed to be "the most sacred living thing on earth" by some Native American tribes, such as the Sioux, Cherokee, Navajo, Lakota and Dakota. According to the National Parks Service, the birth is considered to be an omen because it "takes place in the most unexpected places and often happens among the poorest of people" to bring about a sense of hope and prosperity.
