What the Heck is a Buffalo Wallow?

Notes From The Frontier
Nov 9
4 min read

Updated: Nov 18

Once upon a time, before whites came to North America, there were billions of buffalo wallows dotting the land. Today, most North Americans have never even heard of a buffalo wallow....

When I was young, growing up as a farm girl in Iowa, I rode my horse Sundance in the vast Des River Valley in central Iowa. Although most of Iowa is flat prairie, I was lucky enough to live only a half mile from this magnificent river valley, marked by rolling hills, oak savannahs and heavy forests. In this paradise, I rode Sundance bareback (pretending I was an Indian) and explored Indian mounds and pioneer cemeteries and old stagecoach traces and cabin ruins and an old coal mine abandoned in the 1800s.

I also communed with wonderful wildlife that sought refuge in the shrouded and protected river valley: eagles and bobcats and large turtles and foxes and beaver and hawks and deer. Those experiences fired my child's imagination and love of literature and history, especially Indian and. pioneer history. They were the seeds of my debut novel, BLOOD TO RUBIES, about Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce Indians. (Now and Amazon #1 National Bestseller!)

I liked to imagine the land when buffalo still roamed in massive herds that spread for miles and miles. An estimated 100 million buffalo once roamed North America. That is, until whites killed off the species to the brink of extinction. Only a thousand buffalo were left before the federal government enacted laws to protect them.

I was lucky enough to actually see a buffalo wallow. And the sight sent pringles down my spine to witness it. Nearly all the flat land in Iowa was tilled by early farmers and homesteaders, so millions of buffalo wallows were tilled under and filled in, as they were across the continent. But my buffalo wallow remained all those hundreds of years because it was in the middle of an oak savannah and rolling hills and remained as pastureland for domestic cattle and was never tilled.

Now some folks would say a buffalo wallow is nothin' but a big ole hole with dirt. But, oh!, it's so much more. And those wallows––through the fascinating symbiotic relationships of Nature–– also became crucial micro ecosystems for the Great Plains and provided species diversity.

What is a buffalo wallow?

Well, it is a big ole hole in the ground. But it was created by buffalo for a variety of reasons. Here's how and why a buffalo wallow is created:

Buffalo, or bison, begin pawing the ground and breaking up the prairie grasses to get at the dirt. Then they would begin to paw with their hooves and dig with their horns a deeper and deeper hole. They did this for a variety of reasons:

• PROTECTION AGAINST PARASITES

Rolling in the dust would help protect them against insects and parasites, especially flies, ticks, lice, and mosquitoes.

•PROTECTION AGAINST THE SUN & SUMMER HEAT

Oftentimes, the depression would fill with rainwater. Then the buffalo would wallow in the mud. The mud coat would help protect them against the sun and insulate them against the summer heat. The mud also cooled their feet.

• FUR & COAT HEALTH

In the spring, buffalo sort of "molt," that is, their heavy winter coat sheds and they have large pieces of ragged fur hanging off them. Rolling in the wallow, helps remove this hanging, matted off them. Rolling in a wallow removes this hanging, matted fur.

• SOCIAL DOMINANCE & DISPLAYS

Here comes the romantic part! During mating season, bulls urinate in the wallows, then roll in the mud composed of a delicious mixture of urine, testosterone and dirt. They also spike the dirt with their horns to create a dramatic dust display, showing their dominance to other males.

• SOCIAL COHESION & PLAY

Later, the wallows serve as a meeting place and playground for buffalo calves. And adults wallow together as a form of social cohesion

Buffalo wallows created unique ecosystems that contributed greatly to the species biodiversity of the continent

Wallows were important land features in North America's bioversity. They became:

Water reservoirs: Wallows can collect and hold rainwater, creating temporary pools that are vital for certain species, such as ephemeral wetland species and amphibians.
Unique plant communities: The depressions and altered soil in wallows allow for different vegetation to grow, including pioneer plant species that can establish where they might not otherwise.
Microhabitats for wildlife: Beyond amphibians, a variety of other species use wallows. These include insects, shorebirds, and mammals that rely on the wallows for water or as a source of food.
Increased biodiversity: By creating these varied microhabitats, bison wallows increase the overall environmental heterogeneity of the landscape, leading to higher biodiversity across the entire ecosystem.
Habitat for other animals: The wallows also provide essential services for other animals, such as offering resting spots and being a source of water for a wide range of species across the prairie.

The buffalo wallow in American pop culture

The buffalo wallow was made famous (at least for baby-boomers) by the popular 1950s & 1960s singer, Roger Miller and his smash hit "Can't Roller Skate in a Buffalo Herd." For your listening pleasure, here is the link:

https://youtu.be/KI-8hst0bho