An Extraordinary North Dakota Neighbor
Valley City’s western neighbor Jamestown has long been known as Buffalo City, boasting the world’s largest buffalo (the concrete creation Dakota Thunder), the National Buffalo Museum, and a live buffalo herd. The herd’s most famous member was born on the Shirek Buffalo Ranch near Michigan, North Dakota, in July 1996: White Cloud. White Cloud came to the Jamestown herd a year after her birth, after the North Dakota Buffalo Foundation, which manages the herd, and Shirek Ranch agreed to make her more visible to the public. White Cloud spent most of her life there, during which time an estimated 3 million tourists came to see her, as well as many Native American groups who visited her for religious and ceremonial purposes. White buffalo are extremely rare (the National Bison Association estimates that they only occur in approximately one in 10 million births). Albinism in general is a rare condition
in both animals and humans, but the rarity of albino buffalo is truly exceptional. In humans, it’s 1 in 20,000. In some bird species, it’s 1 in 2,000. In many mammals, it’s estimated to be 1 in 10,000. Because buffalo were such an important resource for Native American tribes living on the Great Plains, they saw all buffalo as sacred. For that reason, the very rare white buffalo was one of—if not THE—most sacred animals on earth to peoples like the Lakota.
The National Park Service Biological Resources Division in Fort Collins, Colorado, wrote of the legend associated with the white buffalo in Lakota culture:
Long ago, there was a great famine and the Lakota chief sent out two scouts to hunt for food. While they were searching, they saw a figure in the distance. As they approached, the figure appeared to be a beautiful woman. One of the two scouts was filled with desire, but despite the warnings from the second scout that the woman appeared to be sacred, the man approached the woman. Soon a cloud enclosed the pair, and the man turned into a pile of bones. The second man approached the woman, and although frightened, the woman explained that she was wakan, or holy. She instructed the scout to go back to his People and tell them of her arrival. When the White Buffalo Calf Woman arrived, she brought the White Buffalo Calf chanupa (pipe) — the most sacred object a person can possess — and taught them seven sacred ways to pray. Before she left, she told the people that she would return again to restore harmony and spirituality to a troubled world. She then rolled upon the earth four times, chang
ing color each time and turned into a white buffalo calf before she disappeared. As she left, great herds of buffalo surrounded the camps. When a white buffalo calf is born, it is a sign that their prayers are being heard and that the promises of the prophecy are being fulfilled.
To American Indians, a White Buffalo Calf is the most sacred living thing on earth. The calf is a sign to begin life’s sacred loop. Some American Indians say the birth of a white calf is an omen because the birth takes place in the most unexpected places and often happens among the poorest of people. The birth is sacred within the American Indian communities, because it brings a sense of hope and is a sign that good times are about to happen.
White Cloud was even rarer than the 1-in10-milllion white buffalo, because she was albino. Buffalo can be white, but not albino. In fact, white buffalo can be a result of several physical conditions: 1) They may be albino (remaining unpigmented their whole lives); 2) They may be leucitic (white fur with blue eyes rather than red); 3) They may be born white and become brown in a year or two as it matures; 4) They may be a bisoncattle crossbreed, having inherited the white coloration from the cattle ancestry.
Albinism in humans and animals is characterized by a genetic mutation which causes a partial or complete absence of pigmentation due to a lack of melanin, responsible for color of hair, eyes and skin. The genetic mutation creates health conditions that negatively impact albino animals in the wild and those in captivity. Lack of melanin in the skin means less protection from the sun’s harmful UV radiation, and the lack of melanin in the eyes can mean albino animals have limited eyesight and extreme sensitivity to light. Tracking prey, avoiding predators and even securing mates can be difficult or impossible for albino animals in the wild, and issues regulating body temperature and limited hearing make life uniquely challenging for animals like White Cloud, even in a controlled environment. In her old age, White Cloud went back to her birthplace, the Shirek Ranch, where she could receive more specialized care than she could in Jamestown. She passed away in 2016, having lived 20 years and given birth to 11 calves, including a white one.
White Cloud’s calf Dakota Miracle was born in 2008, a white buffalo (affected by leucism rather than 100% albinism like his mother). His brilliantly white coat and light eyes made him stand out amongst the herd, especially after his mother was no longer in Jamestown. Unfortunately, his rare condition led to an incident that cut his life tragically short. In 2019, the National Buffalo Museum announced that Dakota Miracle had died as a result of injuries he sustained when he fell in a ravine in the pasture. Dakota Miracle’s leucism meant that his eyesight was negatively impacted in a number of ways, likely leading to his stumble and fall. A second white buffalo calf was born in 2008, the offspring of two brown buffalo in the Jamestown herd. The calf’s father, Dakota Thunder, was White Cloud’s son and though he wasn’t albino, he carried the gene and passed it to his calf, Dakota Legend. Dakota Legend was returned to the Shirek Ranch some time after his birth.
In 2018, a white buffalo calf born at Shirek Ranch was introduced to the Jamestown herd. She was a descendant of White Cloud, but wasn’t accepted by the herd and died of natural causes about 3 months after arriving in Jamestown.
Though it may have gotten to feel somewhat ordinary living next to the white, four-legged Jamestown residents, we had two of the most sacred, exceptionally rare animal neighbors in White Cloud and Dakota Miracle. Now the herd has no whitecoated outlier, but the buffalo that remain at Shirek Ranch and at Jamestown are part of a heritage unique to our area, living remnants of a rich past in which Native Americans lived on the plentiful expanse of plain, honored the animals around them and recognized the sacred nature of beauties like White Cloud’s. Perhaps one day, whether sooner or later, the Jamestown herd of buffalo will be home to another white buffalo.