Elk and Bison at Botna Bend

Visiting the elk and bison at Botna Bend never gets old. It's also a nice thing to do when guests come, something unique to show them. Naturally, we took Sarah to see them when she was visiting last week.

The elk are very friendly. They approach the fence when they see you coming. I assume they think we have food. After awhile, they walk away and ignore you once they figure out you don't have any.

Speaking of food, this one was using the fence to climb up and eat from the lower branches of a tree. We noticed that all the trees were pretty bare on their lower branches.

Here, an elk prepares to stand on her hind legs. It's quite a sight.

It's a little hard to see, but she's standing there under the tree.

A spotted young calf.

The bison are pretty cool to watch, but they are not friendly like the elk. They will ignore you unless you get too close--this male might charge the fence. I've seen him do it and it's terrifying, even knowing he's unlikely to break through. Here he is scratching his big furry head on the tree.

We stopped and watched them for awhile, and when we were leaving, we noticed that there were some workers there waiting with the veterinarian. We asked what was going on, and the vet said that one of the bison was having dizzy spells. How do you know if a bison is having dizzy spells? It falls down a lot, he said. We didn't stay and watch, but that would have been interesting to see how they treat a giant wild animal!