Senior Moments

Burros begging for food on the Wilderness Loop, Custer State Park, South Dakota. September 25, 2012.

(Note:  All pictures may be enlarged by clicking on them.)

This is my post for the Our World meme.  This meme is a second generation of My World Tuesday created by Klaus Peter and is hosted by five wonderful ladies.  To learn more about our world or to join and share your part of the world, click HERE.

Betsy and I live in a small Tennessee town, so we don’t have much experience with beggars.  But as we drove along the Wildlife Loop in South Dakota’s Custer State Park, we encountered a whole herd of them.  As you can see from the photo above, they were quite brazen about begging for food.

Burro in Custer State Park. September 25, 2012.

We tried to identify the ringleader, but we didn’t have much success.  This character was definitely one of the larger beggars, and the others showed him a great deal of deference.

A young burro along the road in Custer State Park, South Dakota. September 25, 2012.

We were surprised to see even children among the beggars.

A begging burro along the Wildlife Loop in Custer State Park, South Dakota. September 25, 2012.

Could you refuse a face like this?  I hate to admit it, but we did.

Bison in Custer State Park, South Dakota. September 25, 2012.

(Note:  All pictures may be enlarged by clicking on them.)

This is my post for the Our World meme.  This meme is a second generation of My World Tuesday created by Klaus Peter and is hosted by five wonderful ladies.  To learn more about our world or to join and share your part of the world, click HERE.

After visiting Mount Rushmore, Betsy and I drove to South Dakota’s Custer State Park.  One area of the park that was highly recommended was the Wildlife Loop, where we were assured that we would see plenty of wildlife.

Our friends were correct — we saw a wide variety of wildlife:  big horn sheep, burros, pronghorns and bison.  I’ve seen bison before, but never so many at one time.

Bison on the prairie in Custer State Park, South Dakota. September 25, 2012.

Seeing them on the prairie reminded me of descriptions of the huge buffalo herds encountered during the westward expansion of the United States.  At one time there were millions of bison in North America, but by 1900 it is estimated that fewer than 1,00 bison remained on the entire continent.

Bison at Custer State Park, South Dakota. September 25, 2012.

There are now as many as 1,300 head of bison in Custer State Park.  Bison can grow to 6 feet tall and weigh more than 2,000 pounds.  They are the largest native terrestrial mammal of North America.

The park holds a roundup each year to adjust the size of the herd according to the predicted availability of grassland forage.    The spring birthing season           rejuvenates the herd to approximately 1,300 head each year.