
-
PSG eye becoming France's first 'Invincibles'
-
Late birdie burst lifts Ryder to Texas Open lead
-
Five potential Grand National fairytale endings
-
Trump purges national security team after meeting conspiracist
-
More work for McIlroy even with two wins before Masters
-
Trump hopeful of 'great' PGA-LIV golf merger
-
No.1 Scheffler goes for third Masters crown in four years
-
Where Trump's tariffs could hurt Americans' wallets
-
Trump says 'very close to a deal' on TikTok
-
Trump tariffs on Mexico: the good, the bad, the unknown
-
Postecoglou denies taunting Spurs fans in Chelsea defeat
-
Oscar-winning Palestinian director speaks at UN on Israeli settlements
-
With tariff war, Trump also reshapes how US treats allies
-
Fernandez fires Chelsea into fourth as pressure mounts on Postecoglou
-
South Korea court to decide impeached president's fate
-
Penguin memes take flight after Trump tariffs remote island
-
E.T., no home: Original model of movie alien doesn't sell at auction
-
Italy's Brignone has surgery on broken leg with Winter Olympics looming
-
Trump defiant as tariffs send world markets into panic
-
City officials vote to repair roof on home of MLB Rays
-
Rockets forward Brooks gets one-game NBA ban for technicals
-
Pentagon watchdog to probe defense chief over Signal chat row
-
US tariffs could push up inflation, slow growth: Fed official
-
New Bruce Springsteen music set for June 27 release
-
Tom Cruise pays tribute to Val Kilmer
-
Mexico president welcomes being left off Trump's tariffs list
-
Zuckerberg repeats Trump visits in bid to settle antitrust case
-
US fencer disqualified for not facing transgender rival
-
'Everyone worried' by Trump tariffs in France's champagne region
-
Italy's Brignone suffers broken leg with Winter Olympics looming
-
Iyer blitz powers Kolkata to big IPL win over Hyderabad
-
Russian soprano Netrebko to return to London's Royal Opera House
-
French creche worker gets 25 years for killing baby with drain cleaner
-
UK avoids worst US tariffs post-Brexit, but no celebrations
-
Canada imposing 25% tariff on some US auto imports
-
Ruud wants 'fair share' of Grand Slam revenue for players
-
Lesotho, Africa's 'kingdom in the sky' jolted by Trump
-
Trump's trade math baffles economists
-
Gaza heritage and destruction on display in Paris
-
'Unprecedented crisis' in Africa healthcare: report
-
Pogacar gunning for blood and thunder in Tour of Flanders
-
Macron calls for suspension of investment in US until tariffs clarified
-
Wall St leads rout as world reels from Trump tariffs
-
Mullins gets perfect National boost with remarkable four-timer
-
Trump tariffs hammer global stocks, dollar and oil
-
Authors hold London protest against Meta for 'stealing' work to train AI
-
Tate Modern gifted 'extraordinary' work by US artist Joan Mitchell
-
Mexico president welcomes being left off Trump's new tariffs list
-
Tonali eager to lead Newcastle back into Champions League
-
Lesotho hardest hit as new US tariffs rattle Africa

Bison reintroduced to Canada's Banff thrive again
Wild bison that once numbered in the tens of millions in North America before being hunted almost to extinction are once again thriving in a pocket of western Canada.
Appearing from a distance as specks against the backdrop of the Rocky Mountains, these animals are also restoring balance at the top of a fragile ecosystem.
North America's largest land mammal -- growing to 900 kilograms (2,000 pounds) and 1.8 meters (six feet) high at the shoulders -- suffered a dramatic decline in late 19th century due to hunting and habitat loss as settlers pushed westward.
They were reintroduced to what is now Banff National Park in 2017.
"The moment the bison set foot on that landscape, it felt to me that I brought them home," says Wes Olson, who accompanied the first 16 bison to be released there.
Transferred by helicopter from a biosphere reserve near Edmonton, Alberta, the population has exploded and new births are expected to push their numbers to 100 by year's end.
A Parks Canada report published this week concluded that the reintroduction was a success, and it suggested that due to their robust growth rate, this bison subpopulation -- one of only five that occupy a mere 0.5 percent of their original range in North America -- may no longer be considered endangered within a decade.
As soon as they arrived, Olson says, the ancient ecosystem was suddenly reactivated and the bison appeared to feel right at home, while other forest creatures quickly and "intrinsically" reestablished a symbiotic relationship.
Squirrels with puffy cheeks can be seen busily collecting hairs shed by the burly beasts, says the 69-year-old former park warden.
One hundreds species of insects colonize its nutrient-rich dung.
Birds also get in on the action. They take turns sitting on bisons' backs and plucking bits of fur to make nests, as well as bugs or seeds trapped in it to eat. Warmer and more comfortable fur-lined nests lead to better outcomes for the chicks.
- Great Plains 'landscape engineers' -
A "keystone species" of the Great Plains, a broad expanse of flatlands that stretch across 13 Canadian provinces and US states, from Alberta to Texas, wild bison, by way of their grazing, have shaped this environment.
These "landscape engineers" are on the move as they graze rather than focus on the same patch of land, with their role somewhat like that of elephants in Africa, explains Marie-Eve Marchand of the International Buffalo Relations Institute.
And with herds mobile like that, grasslands are able to regenerate and better store carbon and water, according to a study by the University of Alberta. Other studies also found that the presence of bison makes them more resilient to drought.
Between 30 and 60 million bison once roamed North America. At the end of the 19th century, there were only a few hundred left.
Their decline had a devastating impact also on Indigenous tribes that relied on the animals for food, as well as clothing, shelter and religious worship.
Their return to Banff, an ancestral gathering place of local tribes, has helped revive "parts of our language, culture and deep, deep spirituality that the first peoples of this place had with the land," says Marchand.
- Indigenous future includes bison -
"At one point," says Violet Meguinis of the Tsuut'ina First Nation of southern Alberta, "bison was our main source of food."
"Bringing them back and releasing them in the wild is significant for us," she says.
Several Indigenous communities have been working in recent years to reintroduce bison to their ancestral lands and are eager to do more, including the Tsuut'ina, which started by raising a domestic herd of 400 bison about 100 kilometers (60 miles) east of Banff.
Clayton Whitney has cared for the animals for eight years, helping to "bring them back from extinction," work that he considers to be a privilege given how important bison are to the community.
The tribe comes together to butcher a few each year for their meat and hides as their ancestors did, while the simple act of moving the herd from paddock to paddock to mimic their movements in the wild has stirred growth of plants used for Indigenous traditional medicines, he says.
The entire community takes part in the ritual slaughter, with elders passing on their knowledge of how to properly skin the animal, and leave none of it to waste.
"We depend on (the bison) as much as it depends on us," says Meguinis.
"We want this land to be there for them, we want the bison to be here because then that preserves our own future," she sums up.
S.F.Warren--AMWN