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An accidental discovery by a bulldozer driver has led to what may be the find of the century: an ice-age burial ground that could rival the famed La Brea tar pits. After two weeks of excavating ancient fossils at the Ziegler Reservoir near Snowmass Village, Colorado, scientists from the Denver Museum of Natural Science returned home Wednesday with their unearthed treasures in tow -- a wide array of fossils, insects and plant life that they say give a stunningly realistic view of what life was like when ancient, giant beasts lumbered across the Earth. Since the team’s arrival in mid-October,...

A Prairie du Sac youngster, exploring the Wisconsin River bottom because he couldn't play high-tech games, made the archeological find of the year in Wisconsin when he unearthed an ancient bison head and horns. "It is one of the best finds of the year, if not the best," state archeologist John Broihahn said of the find, which he determined was the head and horns of a Bison Occidentalis, at least 5,000 years old. And it is now officially known as the "Bradford Bison," in honor of Joshua Bradford, 7, who made the initial discovery. Josh was on an outing with...

The discovery of bison bones in Peoria County proves the animals were in Illinois about 1,700 years earlier than previously thought, according to scientists. Radiocarbon dating confirmed a group of eight bison died at a site along the Illinois River around 265 B.C., said Alan Harn, an archaeologist with Dickson Mounds Museum. Until the dating tests, scientists did not have evidence of bison in Illinois before 1450... Archaeologists also found two partial deer skeletons and two partial elk skeletons near the bison, Harn said.

Hundreds of Native Americans are expected to gather Saturday at a former dairy farm in Goshen, Conn., to hold a sacred naming ceremony for what they hope is a rare white buffalo. Mark Herz from NPR member station WSHU catches up with the story for All Things Considered in a report due to air later today. As he says, the calf's DNA still needs to be tested to confirm that he truly is a white buffalo — "or bison, as they are more properly known." But, "test results or no," many Native Americans are planning to be there tomorrow. To...

Two bison trapped at a Pennsyvania zoo were shot to spare them from drowning in rapidly rising floodwaters. Officials at Hersheypark's ZooAmerica defended the decision as the most humane choice, though critics blasted it. The one-ton animals were trapped in their pen as waters surged from Tropical Storm Lee. Zookeepers could not evacuate them, though they managed to save other animals. "Unfortunately, no one could anticipate a weather event that went from inches of rain to feet of flooding in a matter of a few short minutes," the zoo said in its statement. "Faced with the prospect of watching the...

GREENVILLE, Texas — Thousands of people came from miles around Wednesday to see and honor a legend in the flesh - the white buffalo born in a thunderstorm on a northeast Texas ranch. The rare white buffalo calf, regarded as sacred by Lakota Sioux tradition, was honored with Native American prayers, religious songs and the solemn smoking of a pipe in a special naming and dedication ceremony at the Lakota Ranch in Greenville, about 50 miles northeast of Dallas. Flag-flying patriotism, a steady Native American drum beat and scorching heat provided the backdrop for the spiritual event that drew about...

The man responsible for snapping the dramatic photographs of a bison being chased by a grizzly bear has surfaced, providing sister station KTVQ in Billings with more pictures and the end to the tale.Alex Wypyszinski had just dropped off his wife at work and had a few hours to kill one morning last April.Wypyszinski says he likes to spend his free time in the morning snapping photos of wildlife in the park.Of course, he usually has to search the animals out.NEW PHOTOS BELOWIt all started when he was driving in the Fountain Flats area, located between the Madison Junction...

"I thought it was a horse and carriage," said Wypyszinski. "That was the kind of noise that I heard." By the time he turned around, the two fuzzy brown images were racing quickly toward him. Wypyszinski pulled out his camera quickly, thinking he was going to catch two moose racing down the highway. He quickly learned he was mistaken. "I thought I was having a hallucination or something," said Wypyszinski. "I couldn't believe what that buffalo looked like."

GRANDVIEW, Manitoba - An 80-year-old Canadian bison rancher says people have come from around the world to see his prized animals , which he allows to roam around his house. Henry Makinson, whose farm is located about halfway between Grandview and Roblin in Manitoba, said he sold a female for more than $48,000, more than five times the price of an average bison, because of the beauty and health of his animals, the Winnipeg Free Press reported Monday. Markinson said his bison, which perform tricks, including a conga-like dance, for rodeos and over events, are allowed to roam his one-room...

University of Calgary wildlife biologists involved in American bison international surveyThe next 10 to 20 years could be extremely significant for restoring wild populations of American bison to their original range, including the Canadian Rockies; but for this to happen, more land must be made available for herds to roam free, government policies must be updated and the public must change its attitude towards bison, according to a new international study on the species co-authored by University of Calgary experts. The publication released today by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, American Bison: Status Survey and Conservation Guidelines 2010,...

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) -- Billionaire Ted Turner is getting 88 Yellowstone National Park bison from a faltering Montana program that was supposed to put the disease-free animals on public or tribal lands. The animals were spared several years ago from a periodic slaughter of bison leaving Yellowstone because of worries about animal disease. They are now in a joint federal-state quarantine compound in southern Montana's Paradise Valley but could be moved to Turner's ranch within weeks, state officials said Tuesday....Turner will care for the animals for five years and in return wants 75 percent of their offspring.... Turner, founder of...

BRIDGEWATER, S.D. -- Behind the freezer doors at a meat plant mysteriously abandoned by its owner, the 44 tons of bison meat managed to hold its own for months, masked by the brutal chill of two South Dakota winters. Once the power was cut and spring thaw arrived, nature took over. And enough rotting meat to fill a high school gym did exactly what you'd expect: It stank. It stank at the bank. It smelled at the law office. It reeked at the cafe. Even the jewelry store wasn't immune. Everyone in this tiny town could smell it, everywhere they...

BRIDGEWATER, S.D. (AP) -- Behind the freezer doors at a meat plant mysteriously abandoned by its owner, the 44 tons of bison meat managed to hold its own for months, masked by the brutal chill of two South Dakota winters. Once the power was cut and spring thaw arrived, nature took over. And enough rotting meat to fill a high school gym did exactly what you'd expect: It stank. It stank at the bank. It smelled at the law office. It reeked at the cafe. Even the jewelry store wasn't immune. Everyone in this tiny town could smell it, everywhere...

For the second time this year a tourist at Yellowstone National Park has been attacked by a bison. a 55-year-old man from Norco, California, was taking pictures of a bull bison that was wandering in the Bridge Bay Campgrounds. The two were about 10 feet apart when the bison charged. a bull bison can stand six feet tall, weigh up to 2,000 pounds and run up to 30 miles an hour. During the next several weeks they are more dangerous than usual because it's their mating season.

FAIRPLAY — A 45-year-old Texas businessman who engineered the slaughter of 32 bison in South Park last winter was sentenced today to 10 days in the Park County jail for cruelty to animals. Park County District Court Judge Stephen Groome said he would have given Jeffrey Hawn a longer jail term if he could, but he was bound by a plea agreement between Hawn's lawyer and the district attorney's office. Groome said that the manner in which the animals were killed — sometimes riddled with as many as eight bullets — left him appalled. "What I find really disturbing is...

UNION, Ky. -- Archaeologists have dug up and will display evidence of an American Indian bison hunt that happened hundreds of years ago in northern Kentucky. Evidence at the site shows hunters killed and butchered the animals with stone tools,leaving the bones and tools behind. The bones were discovered in Big Bone Creek several years ago but left there. Staff members from the Cincinnati Museum Center and volunteers spent a week in August digging up the artifacts. Glenn Storrs, head curator for vertebrate paleontology at the center, got permission from the state to dig while the creek's water was low.Though...

A software CEO from Texas accused of allowing the killing of his neighbor's bison in South Park last winter is due in court. Forty-four-year-old Jeffrey Scott Hawn of Austin has been charged with 32 counts of animal cruelty, one count of theft of more than $20,000 and a one count of criminal mischief. Prosecutors allege that he "tortured, needlessly mutilated or needlessly killed" the bison, who belonged to another rancher.

A Park County rancher on Friday waived his right to a preliminary hearing and asked to enter a plea in the slaughter of 32 bison owned by his neighbor. It’s hard to find anyone here sympathetic to Hawn.

Texas businessman Jeff Hawn was charged May 8 in the March slaying of 32 bison near Hartsel and faces one count of class 3 felony theft, one count of class 3 felony criminal mischief and 32 counts of aggravated cruelty to animals, each a class 6 felony. Hawn turned himself in to the Park County Jail on May 12 and bonded out... Kobe Bryant's attorney The arrest warrant affidavit indicates that the bison had been killed over the course of a number of weeks. For instance, it states that on April 1 officers "retrieved a spent bullet from one of...

The man accused in the deaths of 32 bison who strayed off his Park County neighbor's property has hired a prominent Denver defense attorney. Pamela Mackey is representing Jeffery Scott Hawn, of Austin, Texas, who was charged last week with theft, criminal mischief and cruelty to animals. Mackey previously represented ... Kobe Bryant...