The herd at Ft. Riley (now at the Konza Prairie) were Bison Bison, the species that roamed the West during the expansion of the West by Europeans. Yes, very aggressive. This skull is a Bison Antiquus, 10 to 12 feet high at the haunch, makes the current Bison look like a poodle.
I watched the Post Vet give them their annual vaccinations, the corral and chute could have survived the siege of the Alamo, but it barely survived those inoculations. Powerful animals.
I was with my Army Guard unit in the early 70s when we set up field camps on those bluffs above Funston. My Mess Tent, Mess Hall Tents and Cooks Quarters were right on the edge of that bluff. We got hit by a tornado that I watched come across the valley right at us as the sun was going down. It would have killed us all if the wall cloud had not been right on the ground. The funnel did not fully form because the circulation was so low it was still on its side. Over the years I described it as “like watching Niagra Falls on wheels’ come across that valley to the south.
At that time a good percentage of the Funston buildings still existed and later history showing that there was born the Spanish Influenza was always interesting.