Many would agree that a bison stampede is best observed from a distance, but in Yellowstone National Park it doesn’t always turn out that way.
The accompanying footage reveals what a stampede looks like from inside the nearest vehicle stopped on a park highway.
Keep in mind that bison are the largest land animals in North America and can weigh as much as 2,000 pounds. The iconic beasts can sprint up to 30 mph, so a stampede might literally be earth-shaking.
“I think this is where I was saying ‘Oh God Dave’ fearing they would run right into the car,” Megan Baker-Murray, who captured the footage, stated recently on a Yellowstone-themed Facebook page. “Nothing we could do, nowhere to go.”
Baker-Murray and her husband Dave were in Lamar Valley when the bison stampede developed after they parked to allow the animals to pass.
“There were a number of different groups that ran past us,” Baker-Murray told FTW Outdoors. “Rough estimate is about 200 bison.”
Megan’s reactions varied as she captured the scene with her phone camera. Perhaps the scariest moment was when a male bison appeared briefly as though it might strike the vehicle.
The encounter was so intimate that Dave and Megan could hear grunting and detect the animals’ musty scent.
Megan said that while the prolonged encounter was unnerving at times, “It was truly amazing.”
More than 5,000 bison reside in Yellowstone National Park and the animals are commonly spotted feeding on grasses and sedges.
Occasionally, in what might seem a whim, they begin to relocate en masse. These short migrations can develop into what are referred to as bison stampedes.
