Antelope Island bison herd

Antelope Island bison herd
Bison grazing on Antelope Island
Location of Antelope Island State Park in Utah Show map of Utah Antelope Island bison herd (the United States) Show map of the United States
Location	Davis, Utah, United States
Coordinates	40°57′29″N 112°12′26″W / 40.95806°N 112.20722°W / 40.95806; -112.20722
Elevation	4,350 ft (1,330 m)
Established	1893; state management since 1981
Visitors	280351 (in 2010)[1]
Governing body	Utah State Parks
Website	Antelope Island State Park

The Antelope Island bison herd is a semi–free-ranging population of American bison (Bison bison, buffalo) in Antelope Island State Park in Great Salt Lake, Utah. Bison were introduced to Antelope Island in 1893. The herd is significant because it is one of the largest and oldest publicly owned bison herds in the nation.^[2] The Antelope Island bison herd currently numbers between 550 and 700 individuals. Though the bison on Antelope Island are plains bison (Bison bison bison), which was the most common bison subspecies in North America, the bison have a distinct genetic heritage from many of the other bison herds in the United States and they are considered to be desirable as part of the breeding and foundation stock for other bison herds, because of their separate genetic heritage and some of the distinct genetic markers that are found in the population.^{[citation needed]}

The Antelope Island bison herd is one of the two bison herds managed by the State of Utah, the other being the Henry Mountains bison herd. Other large free-ranging, publicly controlled herds of bison in the United States include the Yellowstone Park bison herd (5,000 bison), the herd in Custer State Park, South Dakota (1,300 bison),^[3] the Henry Mountains bison herd in south-central Utah (300 to 500 animals), and the herd at Wind Cave National Park in South Dakota (350 bison).

Bison watching is one of the most popular activities on Antelope Island, and the bison are generally easily found and observed.^[4]