For the first time in more than 100 years, Banff National Park in Canada is going to be home to wild bison.
A wild bison at Elk Island National Park. Photo from Johane Janelle/Parks Canada.
The Great Plains and eastern slopes of the Rockies were once home to as many as 60 million bison, but by the late 1800s, settlers and disease had almost wiped them out. In 1889, a prominent conservationist estimated only about 1,000 animals remained.
Soon, though, people realized something needed to be done and started taking steps to protect these animals. In the early 1900s, the Canadian government actually tracked down some of the last wild animals and shipped them by train to wildlife refuges. Today, thanks to more than 100 years of conservation efforts, bison numbers have partially recovered. About a half million are managed as livestock, with about 30,000 wild individuals.
On Feb. 6, 2017, as part of ongoing efforts to reintroduce wild bison to the North American wilds, Parks Canada relocated 16 bison from Elk Island National Park to Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada.
Though this is something to be celebrated, moving North America's biggest land animal is anything but simple or easy.
Photo from Johane Janelle/Parks Canada.
An adult bison can weigh up to 2,000 pounds.
These particular bison started their journey at Elk Island National Park near Edmonton, Alberta.
Wild bison at a handling facility in Elk Island National Park near Edmonton. Photo from Cameron Johnson/Parks Canada.
Elk Island has a herd of about 390 animals.
To start, park rangers wrangled up the bison and picked out 16 prospective individuals.
A team member watches one of the bison move through the handling facility. Chutes help channel the animals between holding areas while also keeping them calm. Photo from Cameron Johnson/Parks Canada.
The bison, mostly pregnant young females, were quarantined and given a health checkup before the move then loaded into specially created shipping containers.
The containers had air holes cut out of the top, special doors, and bedding to make the bison comfortable during what was going to be a very long ride.
The bison (and humans) set off on a nearly 250-mile road trip.
Trucks carried the bison from Elk Island National Park to just outside Banff National Park. Photo from Johane Janelle/Parks Canada.
It turns out, Canada's kind of big. Alberta is just Canada's sixth largest territory, but it's nearly the size of Texas.
After seven hours, everyone arrived at the Ya Ha Tinda Ranch outside Banff National Park after midnight.
But that wasn't the end of their journey. Heck, it wasn't even the most incredible part of it. Because then there was the part where they brought in the helicopter.
Parks Canada staff celebrate as the helicopter picks up the last of the bison. Photo from Johane Janelle/Parks Canada.
Banff National Park is huge. It's bigger than the state of Delaware. And there are no roads where these guys were headed.
Photo from Dan Rafla/Parks Canada.
Ya Ha Tinda Ranch is the closest you can get by road. From there on, Banff is horse, boot, or cross-country ski territory. So instead of walking the whole distance, the bison, along with all the personnel and equipment, needed to be flown in.
After a 15-mile helicopter ride, the bison finally touched down in their new home: Banff's Panther Valley.
Parks Canada stand ready in Banff's Panther Valley. Photo from Dan Rafla/Parks Canada.
Panther Valley was chosen for a couple of reasons. It has plenty of bison-friendly open areas, good vegetation, and insulation in the form of warm chinook winds. It's also far enough from people to give the bison a bit of breathing room as they get used to their new space.
Despite the long trip, the bison made themselves at home pretty darn quick.
Photo from Dan Rafla/Parks Canada.
Though the road may have been bumpy, the bison seemed no worse for the wear. They found food and water pretty quick. "They're incredibly robust," said project manager Karsten Heuer. Within a few hours they were rubbing horns and bucking playfully. "I've got a tremendous respect for these animals."
These bison will hopefully be the start of a new wild herd in Banff.
Photo from Dan Rafla/Parks Canada.
The road trip was just the start of a five-year reintroduction plan.
For the next 16 months, they'll stay in an enclosure in Panther Valley to let them give birth and get attached the land. In the summer of 2018, they'll be released to the park as a whole.
Reintroducing the bison has a number of benefits. Visitors to Banff can learn more about them, for instance, and they're also part of the region's culture and history. They even help the plants grow.
But more than that, the mere presence of wild bison has an effect on people.
"Bison are an incredibly iconic animal," Heuer says. They're all at once rugged, adaptable, and strong. They symbolize wildness.
But they're also living in an often human-centric world. Even Banff National Park is only about 100 miles away from Calgary, a million-person city. Just by existing, the bison will continue to ask us things we'll have to grapple with, Heuer says.
Things like where we should draw the line between wilderness and civilization. Or whether all this effort could have been avoided by simply taking more care not to nearly wipe them out a hundred years ago. Or what we want the future to look like.
"It's good to have an animal as big and burly as a bison to help us keep things in perspective," Heuer says.
Note: There was a small display herd of plains bison in Banff National Park until 1997, but the herd was not wild and did not have full access to the ecosystem.
There's a reason why some people can perfectly copy accents, and others can't
Turns out, there's a neurodivergent link.
A woman in black long sleeve shirt stands in front of mirror.
Have you ever had that friend who goes on vacation for four days to London and comes back with a full-on Queen's English posh accent? "Oooh I left my brolly in the loo," they say, and you respond, "But you're from Colorado!" Well, there are reasons they (and many of us) do that, and usually it's on a pretty subconscious level.
It's called "accent mirroring," and it's actually quite common with people who are neurodivergent, particularly those with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). According Neurolaunch, the self-described "Free Mental Health Library," "Accent mirroring, also known as accent adaptation or phonetic convergence, is the tendency to unconsciously adopt the accent or speech patterns of those around us. This linguistic chameleon effect is not unique to individuals with ADHD, but it appears to be more pronounced and frequent in this population."
Essentially, when people have conversations, we're constantly "scanning" for information—not just the words we're absorbing, but the inflection and tone. "When we hear an accent, our brains automatically analyze and categorize the phonetic features, prosody, and intonation patterns," writes Neurolaunch. For most, this does result in copying the accent of the person with whom we're speaking. But those with ADHD might be more sensitive to auditory cues. This, "coupled with a reduced ability to filter out or inhibit the impulse to mimic…could potentially explain the increased tendency for accent mirroring."
While the article explains further research is needed, they distinctly state that, "Accent mirroring in individuals with ADHD often manifests as an unconscious mimicry of accents in social situations. This can range from subtle shifts in pronunciation to more noticeable changes in intonation and speech rhythm. For example, a person with ADHD might find themselves unconsciously adopting a Southern drawl when conversing with someone from Texas, even if they’ve never lived in the South themselves."
People are having their say online. On the subreddit r/ADHDWomen, a thread began: "Taking on accents is an ADHD thing?" The OP shares, "My whole life, I've picked up accents. I, myself, never noticed, but everyone around me would be like, 'Why are you talking like that??' It could be after I watched a show or movie with an accent or after I've traveled somewhere with a different accent than my 'normal.'
They continue, "Apparently, I pick it up fast, but it fades out slowly. Today... I'm scrolling Instagram, I watch a reel from a comedian couple (Darcy and Jeremy. IYKYK) about how Darcy (ADHD) picks up accents everywhere they go. It's called ADHD Mirroring??? And it's another way of masking."
(The OP is referring to Darcy Michaels and his husband Jeremy Baer, who are both touring comedians based in Canada.)
Hundreds of people on the Reddit thread alone seem to relate. One comments, "Omfg I've done this my whole life; I'll even pick up on the pauses/spaces when I'm talking to someone who is ESL—but English is my first language lol."
Sometimes, it can be a real issue for those around the chameleon. "I accidentally mimicked a waitress's weird laugh one time. As soon as she was out of earshot, my family started to reprimand me, but I was already like 'oh my god I don’t know why I did that, I feel so bad.'"
Many commenters on TikTok were shocked to find out this can be a sign of ADHD. One jokes, "Omg, yes, at a store the cashier was talking to me and she was French. She's like 'Oh are you French too? No, I'm not lol. I'm very east coast Canada."
And some people just embrace it and make it work for them. "I mirror their words or phrase! I’m 30. I realized I start calling everyone sweetie cause my manager does & I work at coffee shop."