See this relaxed bison halting traffic at Yellowstone
Yellowstone drivers had to roll at a snail’s pace as a lone (and unbothered) bison created traffic at Yellowstone National Park.
On her way home, a Wyoming woman was caught in traffic. Sounds like a normal story, but the cause of the traffic jam was anything but, at least for those not familiar with Yellowstone.
A massive bison stopped cars on a road inside Yellowstone National Park in what Cindy Shaffer described as an “awesome one-man bison jam,” according to Storyful.
In the video, several cars can be seen slowly following the large animal as it walks along the road.
“Look at him hold everybody up,” Shaffer, a local of Wyoming, said in the video.
Watch: Unbothered bison holds up traffic
How many bison are in Yellowstone?
Bison jams are not uncommon in Yellowstone, given that the national park has ranged from a population of 3,500 to nearly 6,000 of the animals, according to the National Park Service. In 2024, their population was estimated to be 5,400, the NPS said.
These large dark brown colored animals, characterized by a protruding shoulder hump, are social animals that often form herds, which appear to be directed by older females. The total number of bison in a herd can range from about 20 during the winter to an average of about 200 in the summer, the NPS says. They are mostly active during the day and at dusk.
USA TODAY’s Saman Shafiq contributed to this report.
Fernando Cervantes Jr. is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach him at fernando.cervantes@gannett.com and follow him on X @fern_cerv_.
