Friday, April 24, 2009

Bison facts

Some interesting facts about bison (calling them buffalo is incorrect). In 1800, there were an estimated 60 million of them in North America. In the next 100 years, they were slaughtered to the point that by 1899, some say there were less than 1000 left. They were slaughtered for their tongues, bones and hides, but their meat was never used by European settlers. The other reason they were slaughtered was to force natives to move to make room for new settlers, as bison was the natives' source of food.

Today there are more than 500,000 bison, half of which are in Canada.

Bison is a very nutritious source of protein, having less fat (per 100g cooked, lean meat) than beef, pork, chicken, or even halibut. It has more iron, fewer calories and less cholesterol than beef too.

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