The Raymond Wildlife Ranch in Arizona is one of the only two places in the state where visitors can see wild bison. Bison are related to buffaloes and other bovines, and they migrated to North America from Eurasia around 220,000 years ago, during the ice age. Bison became larger and hairier due to the selective pressures of the ice age, and by around 10,000 years ago, a mass extinction occurred in North America, which wiped out woolly mammoths, giant ground sloths, and dire wolves. However, bison were able to survive and spread across the continent, becoming a staple food source and providing hides for clothing and shelter for many Native American tribes. However, market hunting and extermination policies during European migration almost led to the extinction of bison by the end of the 19th century. Conservationists, including Theodore Roosevelt, created the Bison Society and pressured the government to preserve and conserve the remaining bison. By the 1940s, the state of Arizona bought a handful of bison from a rancher and moved them to the Raymond Wildlife Ranch, where visitors can now see these magnificent animals in their natural habitat.
