Legendary Albino Buffalo – Jamestown, North Dakota - Atlas Obscura
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Legendary Albino Buffalo

Jamestown, North Dakota

Three legendary, living albino buffalo roaming their pastures for all to see. 

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White Cloud, as photographed by Carroll Wentland. http://aristotle.net/~swarmack/whtcld.html (All Rights Reserved -- Carroll Wentland)
White Cloud, as photographed by Carroll Wentland. http://aristotle.net/~swarmack/whtcld.html (All Rights Reserved -- Carroll Wentland)
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Jamestown is crazy about its bison. Not only is it home to the world’s largest buffalo statue, but the town also boasts three extremely rare albino bison in the herd maintained on city land by the North Dakota Buffalo Foundation.

White Cloud, the original, extremely rare female albino buffalo of the group, was born in 1996 and had given birth (a frankly disappointing) three times before producing a white calf of her own in 2007.

Dakota Miracle wasn’t the only cute ghostly tot for long, since another brown buffalo gave birth to yet a third albino, Dakota Legend, in 2008. Smells like competition…

White Cloud, Dakota Miracle, and Dakota Legend have become quite the draw for Jamestown, the animals at once freakishly rare and seen as sacred by many Native American plains tribes.

Although White Cloud passed away in 2016 from old age, the two other albino buffaloes can be found roaming freely among the 30-bison herd over 200 acres of pasture lining Interstate 94 to the north and south, meaning that sometimes hawkish vision isn’t even required to catch a glimpse of the white wonders while passing through town.

Know Before You Go

The herd of bison has dwindled considerably since 2016, and few of the local's residents have mentioned seeing either of the albino buffalo recently.

animals
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