<story><title>Ken Burns chronicles the sad fate of the American buffalo</title><url>https://www.economist.com/culture/2023/10/25/ken-burns-chronicles-the-sad-fate-of-the-american-buffalo</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>jen729w</author><text>John Williams’ &lt;i&gt;Butcher’s Crossing&lt;/i&gt; is an incredible story about buffalo hunters. If half of it is true it’s tragic. The sheer numbers; the depth of destruction for the profit of a hide. It boggles the mind that we did this.&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Butcher&amp;#x27;s_Crossing&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Butcher&amp;#x27;s_Crossing&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;(Off-topic, but Williams is best known for &lt;i&gt;Stoner&lt;/i&gt;, a truly beautiful work that you should read immediately if you haven’t already.)</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>cyberax</author><text>A general rule, when you find a &amp;quot;beautiful work&amp;quot;, it usually is trying to sell you a story that seriously lacks in historical detail. There are exceptions, but they are rare.&lt;p&gt;Regarding bison, it&amp;#x27;s likely that the final blow was not from overhunting, but from habitat encroachment that constrained their migratory patterns. This in turn started an epidemic of tick-borne disease, that resulted in a total collapse of their population within just 2 years (1881-1883).&lt;p&gt;There&amp;#x27;s a really nice overview article: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.sciencedirect.com&amp;#x2F;science&amp;#x2F;article&amp;#x2F;pii&amp;#x2F;S0190052818300087&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.sciencedirect.com&amp;#x2F;science&amp;#x2F;article&amp;#x2F;pii&amp;#x2F;S019005281...&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>
<story><title>Ken Burns chronicles the sad fate of the American buffalo</title><url>https://www.economist.com/culture/2023/10/25/ken-burns-chronicles-the-sad-fate-of-the-american-buffalo</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>jen729w</author><text>John Williams’ &lt;i&gt;Butcher’s Crossing&lt;/i&gt; is an incredible story about buffalo hunters. If half of it is true it’s tragic. The sheer numbers; the depth of destruction for the profit of a hide. It boggles the mind that we did this.&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Butcher&amp;#x27;s_Crossing&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Butcher&amp;#x27;s_Crossing&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;(Off-topic, but Williams is best known for &lt;i&gt;Stoner&lt;/i&gt;, a truly beautiful work that you should read immediately if you haven’t already.)</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>block_dagger</author><text>One of thousands of species homo sapiens has slaughtered mindlessly. We’re real special.</text></comment>