At least 31 Million Bison Killed Between 1868 and 1881

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A photograph circulated on a large number of social media websites for the last several years supposedly showing a man standing on the top of a huge pyramid of bison skulls. The published photograph was also shared by a Facebook page “Transcend Politics, Embrace Humanity” on 31^st January 2016 including a statement by the American biologist Victor Scheffer. He said “Nature needs millions of years to create species, but humans can destroy them within some decades. It is important that published photograph and the statement are original. The photograph was taken from Detroit Public Library within the Burton Historical Collection and was captured in 1892 in Rouge valley, Michigan.

The photograph indicated that a man is standing on the top of a big mountain of buffalo skulls and the other man is standing in front of huge mountain and putted his foot on a skull of buffalo. But, the Burton Historical Collection didn’t specify in the photograph that why the skull and bones of bison were being used for. The Fish and Wildlife Service in the United States said that bones and skulls were being used for “refining sugar and making fertilizer, and fine bones of bison were exported to China”. The bones of bison were sold between 2.5 and 15 U.S dollars per ton. The average price was recorded at 8 U.S dollars per ton and assumingly 100 bison skeletons were weighted for one ton. Point to be noted that bison skulls of 2.5 million sold between 1868 and 1881 with an average price of 8 USD, so at least 31 million bison killed for skulls and bones trading.