This Ken Burns film traces the near demise – and ultimate return – of the U.S. national mammal while examining the species’ connection to indigenous communities and the land.
The American Buffalo: Into the Storm, part two of two, airs Friday, January 12 at 8:30 p.m. on WXXI-TV.
For untold generations, America’s national mammal sustained the lives of Native people, whose cultures were intertwined with the animal. Newcomers to the continent bring a different view of the natural world, and the buffalo are driven to the brink of extinction.
Illustration “The Last of the Buffalo” by Albert Bierstadt, 1888 l Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC.