On March 17, 2007 this small herd of bison was released onto a prairie dog town at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal Wildlife Refuge. This is the first time in ages that bison have roamed the short-grass prairies of the Refuge and their arrival was a big event. This footage was taken on a tour at the Refuge a month later. It's a little fuzzy because we had to film through the windows of the bus. Besides prairie dogs, many other prairie species were spotted in the area including burrowing owls, Swainson's hawks and coyotes. We were all thrilled and excited as the bison came into view and much to the surprise of park staff, we were the first to discover that the herd had grown by one during the night!!

As we watched, one of the cows took the opportunity to roll in the fresh dirt of a prairie dog burrow. This behavior is well documented in Disney's 1954 nature film "The Vanishing Prairie". Unlike the bison in that movie, this cow was not confronted by an angry prairie dog who was not at all pleased to have its burrow flattened. The prairie dogs at the refuge have never in their lives seen bison before now and the burrow's occupants chose to remain underground. They will, no doubt, discover in time that these prairie giants only seek a good dirt bath and are of no threat to them. Of course, their burrows are another story!