Yellowstone Dispels Myth That Bison Are Fleeing Park Due to Imminent Volcanic Eruption
Posted on April 3, 2014
Several videos (see examples here and here) were posted on YouTube saying bison were fleeing Yelllowstone park. The posters suggest this means the Yellowstone supervolcano could be about to erupt. It turns out that the bison in the video were actually running deeper into the park and not away from it. This is the original video, posted by Leo Leckie, which can be found here. Take a look:
Leckie says in an L.A. Times interview, "Those bison were running for the sake of running. There was nothing chasing them. There was no mudslide. They were just running. And they were running into the park, not away from it."
Yellowstone released a video, called "Minute Out In It: Rumor Control," to dispel some myths and rumors. Al Nash, Chief of Public Affairs at Yellowstone, acknowledges that the 4.8 magnitude earthquake on March 30th in Yellowstone was the park's largest in 30 years. Nash says there are thousands of earthquakes per year in Yellowstone and most of them are so small no one even feels them. He says some bison and other animals have moved outside the park, but he says this is because they migrate this time of year and move around to search for food. Nash says they have seen no signs that the Yellowstone caldera is about to erupt. Take a look: