Wild Animals You May Know * * * 53 



big herd, except by taking a long horseback trip. There is a fine loca 

 tion for part of the herd near the road from Canyon to Tower Falls, 

 where motorists could look down on the buffaloes from a hill over Ante 

 lope Creek Basin, and sometime it is hoped 

 that this can be fenced so as to control the 

 buffaloes and protect the public. 



The park service also hopes for funds 

 with which to establish buffalo herds in 

 some of the other parks, particularly Gla 

 cier National Park, where there is ample 

 room and good conditions. However, the 

 cost of establishing such a herd, includ 

 ing transportation and fencing, is about 

 $15,000, making it a more or less expensive 

 undertaking that must await the contribu 

 tion of funds either by Congress or by pri 

 vate individuals. At the present time there 

 are a few buffaloes in two of the other national parks, Wind Cave and 

 Sullys Hill. There is no doubt about the great public interest in the 

 comeback of the American bison which used to roam the plains in 

 millions, the wonderful animal which President Roosevelt called "the 

 most distinctive game animal on this continent and certainly the animal 

 which played the greatest part in the lives of the Indians and most 

 deeply impressed the imagination of the old hunters and the early 

 settlers." 



Next to the bear and the buffalo, it is the beavers that interest the 

 visitors in the parks. These ingenious and resourceful little animals 

 are like the bears in that they have many almost human attributes, though 

 a very different set of them from the traits that are bruin's. The 

 beavers are like humans in that they are always trying to improve upon 

 Nature. They are forever damming a stream or changing its course, or 

 cutting down a tree, or building a new house. A beaver is never satis 

 fied to let well enough alone. There are plenty of natural shelters in the 

 woods, but these are not good enough for Mr. Beaver. Like his two- 

 legged friend, Mr. Man, the beaver must gather all his family about 

 him, even the distant relatives, build a tenement house, and crowd into 

 it. The house is always overflowing, it always needs additions, new 

 gables, or new roofs, or new rooms. Life in a beaver colony is just 

 about as unsettled as it is in a great city. Perhaps that is why people 

 are fascinated by beavers and their work. 



Fortunately the beavers are prospering in many of the national 

 parks. The beaver, like the buffalo, was threatened with extinction 

 years ago, though his numbers never decreased in proportion to those 



