The rare white buffalo calf born last month in Yellowstone National Park caused a big stir, but no one has seen the little critter since, reports the Guardian. "To our knowledge, there have been no confirmed sightings by park visitors since June 4," the calf's supposed date of birth, notes a release from the park. It adds that reports and photos started pouring in that day from visitors to the park, commercial guides, scientists, and professional wildlife watchers documenting the special arrival of the white calf, a first for Yellowstone.
The park calls the calf's birth "a landmark event in the ecocultural recovery of bison," with the odds of a white buffalo calf being born in the wild about 1 in 1 million. Forbes notes that the last white buffalo calf known to be born was in 2012 in Avon, Minnesota. In 1994, a white bison calf born in Janesville, Wisconsin, was thought to be the first of its kind since 1933, per the National Park Service. In the most recent case, the Yellowstone release notes the calf isn't technically an albino—instead, it's leucistic, meaning the calf has black eyes and hooves that contain some amount of pigmentation.
The AP notes that the calf's birth fulfills a Lakota Sioux prophecy that better times will follow. However, the arrival of the animal the Lakota are calling Wakan Gli, or "Return Sacred," also signifies that more must be done to protect the planet and its animal inhabitants, per the prophecy. It's not clear if the missing calf has perished, with sickness, predators, and fast-flowing rivers all posing a risk. The park notes that about 20% of the bison calves born each spring die "due to natural hazards." "Whether it's dead or alive, the message has been relayed from the heavens and times are different now," says Mike Mease, co-founder of the Buffalo Field Campaign conservation group. "We have to make changes for the future." (More white buffalo stories.)
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