Today’s overlooked species is rather paradoxical; it’s not
really overlooked as the genus has become a symbol of an entire continent.
People of that continent can recognize one instantly. Empires have risen and
fell because of them. Their meat is expensive but delicious. Their herds range
over thousands of miles, and only centuries before covered the entire continent
in a thick swath. They are the last American megafauna, and they escaped the
fate of their neighbors by the skin of their teeth. That’s right, we’re talking
about American bison. Yesterday was Bison Day, and I’m going to celebrate our
last great mammal before it too is lost to human hunger and short-sightedness.
