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Government United States Democrats Science Politics

Bison To Become First National Mammal Of The US (washingtonpost.com) 168

mdsolar quotes a report from Washington Post: North America used to be teeming with bison. But in one century, their numbers plummeted from tens of millions to just a few dozen in the wild after hunters nearly wiped out the continent's largest mammals. Now, the bison is about to become the first national mammal of the United States. The National Bison Legacy Act, which designates the bison as the official mammal of the United States, passed the House on Tuesday and the Senate on Thursday. The legislation now heads to President Obama's desk to be signed into law. At a time of political gridlock and partisan bickering, lawmakers agree on an official national mammal. The bison, which will join the bald eagle as a national symbol, represents the country's first successful foray into wildlife conservation. Lobbying for the official mammal designation was a coalition of conservationists; ranchers, for whom bison are business; and tribal groups, such as the InterTribal Buffalo Council, which wants to "restore bison to Indian nations in a manner that is compatible with their spiritual and cultural beliefs and practices."
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Bison To Become First National Mammal Of The US

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  • Sounds right (Score:2, Insightful)

    by johanw ( 1001493 )

    For a bull to be the national animal of a bully state.

  • by aglider ( 2435074 ) on Saturday April 30, 2016 @05:34AM (#52017793) Homepage
    How could we live without?
    • The thing is -- this bill really doesn't do anything new. Bison have appeared on American currency a number of times, perhaps most famously on the "buffalo nickel" but also on the well-known 1901 $10 bill.

      I can't think of another animal other than the eagle that has been granted such a prominent place in American symbolism. So, it's already been the de facto "national mammal," even without this bill. In principle, I don't see the big deal one way or another in passing something like this.

      My larger co

    • How could we live without?

      1. It shows that Congress can work together.
      2. More importantly, it takes their time away from fucking up something important.

  • by Anonymous Coward

    I have a bi son. I'm so proud of him :).

  • I assume by "American Bison" they specifically mean Bison bison bison, as the other species of "American Bison", Bison bison athabascae now only exists in Canada (with some modern transplants from Canada also living in Russia).

    Yaz

    • Re:Bison bison bison (Score:4, Informative)

      by tomhath ( 637240 ) on Saturday April 30, 2016 @07:21AM (#52018011)
      Those are both the same species: Bison bison. The third qualifier (bison or athabascae) indicates a subspecies. The bill seems to include both subspecies, as it refers to the common name of "North American Bison".
      • Oh, some on, you can't expect a pedant to know what a species is when complaining about the designation, can you?

        Doesn't he get bonus points for saying "they specifically mean" while not knowing what a specific epithet is?

  • And by fetish I mean the obsession in the US to name a national this or national that. or a state this or a state that.

    For example there is this list: List of state dances [wikipedia.org] Why do you need a state dance? And why does NC have an official folk dance as well as an official popular dance?

    • You mean like every other country? Every country has a national bird/flower/etc. A better question is why is this on Slashdot?
      • by OzPeter ( 195038 )

        You mean like every other country? Every country has a national bird/flower/etc.

        Not to the extent that I have seen it in the US.

        A better question is why is this on Slashdot?

        Who knows. I would have nixed it in the firehose if I had seen it. But still .. it's better than bennett (well anything is better than bennett)

        • by AK Marc ( 707885 )
          Then think of the US as 50 nations, in a federation similar to the EU. You don't poke fun at the EU for both Spain and Germany having a national flower, so why is it different when you talk about California and New York? The federal government doesn't have an excessive number of "national" objects. Though, there are probably more than there should be, brought in because a representative from one place or another traded favors to make them look good by passing something, and had to then support someone el
      • by chthon ( 580889 )

        We Belgians can use your national mammal with our national dish, carbonade flamande [wikipedia.org].

    • Easy. It's the same reason why people are obsessed with "liking" things on Facebook.
    • And by fetish I mean the obsession in the US to name a national this or national that. or a state this or a state that.

      They're just padding the numbers. They get the opportunity to say they got a bill passed, or whatever, so they're clearly doing work. The boss is coming! Look busy!

    • Why do you need a state dance? And why does NC have an official folk dance as well as an official popular dance?

      ...And why are so many of them "Square Dance"?

      • In the 1970s a lot of US States adopted the Square Dance as the Official State Dance to try to convince people that hippies are destroying "American culture," and did not simply represent the current state of culture.

        It sounds like a really stupid theory I made up myself, but there are numerous examples. It isn't just about dancing. Blaming hippies for the "death of America" is an actual thing, as stupid as it sounds.

  • Since the Bison is the national mammal, presumably they need to have a national reptile, amphibian and of course, fish..

    • What about insects? What are you - some sort of racist?
      • by OzPeter ( 195038 )

        From Does the United States have a national insect? [entsoc.org]

        No, the United States does not have a designated national insect. However, Congress did consider the Monarch butterfly as the national insect, but the legislation did not pass. Some U.S. states have "state insects," which are usually noted on state government web sites.

        And List of U.S. state insects [wikipedia.org]. Interestingly I recently head an entomologist talking about state insects on NPR. Apparently there had been cases where specific insects were nominated, but they actually weren't native species.

        • How interesting.

          I would have thought the blackfly or mosquito would have made an appearance in Maine or New Hampshire, but they seem to have chosen otherwise.

        • by Aighearach ( 97333 ) on Saturday April 30, 2016 @04:51PM (#52020161)

          From Does the United States have a national insect? [entsoc.org]

          No, the United States does not have a designated national insect. However, Congress did consider the Monarch butterfly as the national insect, but the legislation did not pass. Some U.S. states have "state insects," which are usually noted on state government web sites.

          And List of U.S. state insects [wikipedia.org]. Interestingly I recently head an entomologist talking about state insects on NPR. Apparently there had been cases where specific insects were nominated, but they actually weren't native species.

          Monarch Butterflies fly back to Mexico every year, so no wonder they never got the bill passed. Don't tell Trump, or the wall will have to get taller.

    • by CanadianMacFan ( 1900244 ) on Saturday April 30, 2016 @07:13AM (#52017989)

      I thought that since politicians were reptiles that the president was the national reptile by default.

    • by Megol ( 3135005 )

      Well according to some* the world leaders are all reptilians so maybe Obama could be the state reptile?

      (* Really, really, REALLY crazy people. But at least they don't go around killing other people so I guess they are better than Daesh at least)

  • A bison without a lexical analyser is pretty much useless! Wow would it recognize the tokens being thrown at it?
    • A bison without a lexical analyser is pretty much useless! Wow would it recognize the tokens being thrown at it?

      *yak*

  • by PopeRatzo ( 965947 ) on Saturday April 30, 2016 @06:26AM (#52017883) Journal

    When the Republicans took over Congress, you knew they'd tackle the really important issues. I guess naming the national mammal is at least a step up from the 60 (yes, that's a six and a zero) symbolic votes to repeal Obamacare or another 72 weeks of investigations into "what really happened in Benghazi".

    This is why they're too busy to even have hearings regarding trivial items like filling a vacancy on the Supreme Court.

    "What do you say, shall we try to get something done?"

    http://img.huffingtonpost.com/... [huffingtonpost.com]

    • That's not fair! The Republicans did consider the problem of filling the vacancy on the Supreme Court and said that they weren't going to do anything about until the next president was elected.

      • by Greyfox ( 87712 )
        I'm sure president Trump will make a good decision.

        What?! It's clear that this plays out that Cruz gets the Republican nomination in a contested election, Hillary gets the Democrat one and Trump/Sanders wins the general in a massive independent campaign landslide. :-P

      • by readin ( 838620 )
        Why is filling the vacancy a problem? The Supreme Court is perfectly capable of functioning with 8 members. In fact I would argue that it functions better with 8 members because why should they be dictating their personal feelings as public policy to the rest of us when they can't get a majority to do so. When their persona feelings are split evenly they simply shouldn't rule. With 8 members that is a possible outcome.
    • What we really need is a regulation to determine whether it's better to do the official folk dance or better to do the official popular dance - in a bathroom. People who feel the urge to dance in bathrooms clearly need to be regulated on these matters.
      • Bathrooms are for prayer and virtuous behavior of other sorts. And most of all, bathrooms are for our kind.

    • by mysidia ( 191772 )

      Historically, when a vacancy came up during the last year in Office, such opening have often been deliberately left open, and filling the position is usually done with the next president; so this doesn't speak negatively of congress at all ---- There is a disagreement on which people are suitable for the position, therefore, there is no nominee which can be successful: if anyone that reflects badly on the president failing to pick a satisfactory candidate; this is not an issue for congress to addre

    • by readin ( 838620 )
      Republican voters agree with you. They're sick of the leadership of the Republican congress refusing to fight Obama by using the power-of-the-purse that the Constitution gave them. That's why their so anti-establishment this election season. The sad part is that so many turned to that liberal Trump instead of the conservative Cruz.
  • Yes, I concede, we Americans are mammals, and we have a natural affinity to our class, mammalia. It is natural for us to ennoble a wonderful member of our class, as our archetype. But, we need to realize we are a nation of laws, and we pride ourselves in believing equality and egalitarianism. We are not going for the melting pot of a classless society but a wonderful salad bowl of all classes intermingling creating something that is greater than the sum of its parts.

    Let the nay sayers decry this as politic

  • Not the naming of a national mammal (while strange itself) but this: "... hunters nearly wiped out the continent's largest mammals".
    Really?!? How can humans have such an impact on nature, the world is so large and humans so weak - the whole idea is genuinely ridiculous!

    Personally I think is was the sunspots who did it, never trusted that glowing thing...

  • We killed the bison, almost to extinction, to shit on the natives.

    We put up fences everywhere to prevent the bison from ranging, so that we could raise cows. They're easier to control, and thus more economically viable.

    The only reason we even have bison now is that they became commercially interesting, because there is a niche market for their meat.

    Ben Franklin wanted the national animal to be the turkey. The Bison is a much better symbol. Hunted near extinction, prevented from living its normal life... and

    • "The only reason we even have bison now is that they became commercially interesting, because there is a niche market for their meat."

      This is what I remember...

      "have made a recent resurgence largely restricted to a few national parks and reserves" ...it seems only in the past, what, 5-10 years where I've seen it here and there.

      Delicious and nutritious. Tastes just like chicken.

  • At least congress is finally spending its time usefully engaging on the meaningful issues that face the country.

    That's progress, I guess.

  • I've had bison meat and wasn't that enthralled by it. Seemed a little tough, if I recall.

    But that was a while ago, and maybe my memory isn't the best. Do people like it? Enough to have them go extinct over it?

    • They were killed for their hides, the meat was left to rot. The policy was in place to force Plains tribes onto reservations.
    • I've had bison meat and wasn't that enthralled by it. Seemed a little tough, if I recall.

      But that was a while ago, and maybe my memory isn't the best. Do people like it? Enough to have them go extinct over it?

      Bison tastes a lot like beef, but a lot leaner. I personally prefer beefalo [wikipedia.org] (bison - cow hybrid).

  • Restoring buffalo habitat can be accomplished by changing feed for chicken, pigs and cattle from grain to chemically synthesized feed. Because solar panels are so much more efficient at collecting the energy needed than corn plants, this means much less land is needed and it can be desert rather than current cropland. Recreating buffalo habitat would eliminate the dead zone in the Gulf and also bring back a huge carbon sink, helping to mitigate global warming. https://slashdot.org/journal/2... [slashdot.org]
    • by PPH ( 736903 )

      and it can be desert rather than current cropland.

      But now you are taking the habitat of the endangered desert tortoise.

  • I recently read the memoirs of an officer from the first troop of the RCMP (then NWMP) to go out to the West to quell the abuses of the whiskey trade. (Cecil Denny.) Sitting Bull was encamped across the Canadian border, safe for the moment from the US Army after Little Big Horn.
    Just four years later, he was starved out. The Canadians wouldn't let the Americans across the border, but they also wouldn't feed him...and he could no longer feed his people. The bison disappeared THAT fast.

    Really, really weird

  • At a time of political gridlock and partisan bickering, lawmakers agree on an official national mammal.

    bicker - v. argue about petty and trivial matters.

    What bickering. By agreeing on a national mammal it seems they demonstrate they are perfectly capable of agreeing on petty and trivial matters. It's the big stuff - whether the budget should grow a little to fast or way to fast, whether our freedoms should be nearly eliminated or merely greatly reduced, whether we should become like Mexico through native stupidity or by importing large numbers of Mexicans (and later giving them the vote) etc. that they

Man is an animal that makes bargains: no other animal does this-- no dog exchanges bones with another. -- Adam Smith

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