On Sat, 04 May 2002 13:25:05 -0500, Amadeus Schmidt wrote:

>Tom Barber <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>>According to the National Tallgrass Prairie web site, there were once "50
>to 60 million" bison roaming the prairie.
>
>That's more like the 66 million Ray claims.
>I still wonder how long the animals in this population lived.

I couldn't find the reference for the 50 to 60 million. But there is a reference
http://www.lib.niu.edu/ipo/ip960356.html
that states "Just for grazing, a herd of 20 requires at least 1,000 acres"

That would be about 12 per square mile. I would think there's about 2 million square miles of prairie(1,000 miles by 2,000 miles). So that would yield a possible total of 24 million bison if my arithmetic is correct.

I believe I have a reference somewhere that bison live to age 24 if they don't get eaten before then.

Tom Gentles