The other helper who had gone to Wind Cave National Park now stood up and gave his report. He had not gone into the cave, but he had explored the park above ground. The park includes 33, 847 acres of land that has some forest, but is mostly prairie land. Wind Cave is in South Dakota and originally most of South Dakota was covered by prairie. As the land was settled, the prairie and its native animals were destroyed in many places. The National Park Service decided to let the land in Wind Cave National Park return to natural prairie. All the native prairie mammals were gone (except for prairie dogs), and the Park Service has reintroduced the animals back into the park.
Bison: American Bison, commonly call buffalo, were once one of biggest animal groups in the world! It was estimate that before Columbus came to this country that there were between 40 million and 60 million bison in United States, Canada, and northern Mexico! The bison were slaughtered to make way for settlement, the number of bison dropped to less than 1,000!
Bison are large animals, and a full-grown male can weight around 2,000 pounds. The top speed of a bison is around 35 mph for a short distance. They can run at a slower gallop for many miles without getting tired. A wild bison is the second most dangerous animal on this continent, only the Alaskan brown bear is more dangerous!
In 1913 fourteen bison were reintroduced to Wind Cave National Park and in 1916 six more were sent to the park. These twenty bison started the whole herd in the park, and the herd has grown so much that bison now have to be captured and sent to other parks and preserves so that the remaining herd has enough to eat! The reason that the herd is not controlled naturally is because there are not enough of the bison’s natural predators in the park.
Pronghorn: The pronghorn is often called an antelope because it can run so fast, but it is not related to the antelopes in Africa.
The pronghorn is the fastest land mammal in America and can run 60 mph for about ½ mile. It can run much longer distances if it only runs 30-40 mph. Even though it is so fast, the pronghorn is not good at jumping fences. The pronghorn will try to squeeze under a fence, which allows a predator to catch them.
Baby pronghorns doe not have any scent, and when their mother hides them, they do not move! Predators cannot find the baby pronghorns, so they are safe! Their mother only spends about 20 minutes a day with their baby!
Pronghorns were hunted almost to extinction in the 1800’s and there were none left in South Dakota! In 1914 there were thirteen pronghorns brought to Wind Cave National Park from Canada. At first the pronghorns struggled to survive in the park because the park was too small for the pronghorns to use their top speed to get away from predators, and they would get caught at the park fence. After the 1930’s the pronghorn heard began to increase, and today the herd in the park is established and safe.
Rocky Mountain Elk: Elk are much larger than deer, a male elk can weigh up to 700 pounds. Elk have much larger antlers than other members of the deer family. Elk used to be more common than any other type of deer. Eastern Elk used to be common in South Dakota, but they are now extinct. By 1900 only a few small herds of Rocky Mountain Elk were left in western United States and western Canada.
In 1914 fourteen Rocky Mountain Elk were brought to Wind Cave National Park. The elk herd in the park now has several hundred elk in it.
Black-tailed Prairie Dog: Prairie dogs used to live all over the great plains from the Dakotas all the way south to Texas. When the land was settled; many settlers poisoned prairie dogs to get rid of them, and many prairie dogs died from diseases they caught from the settler’s dogs. Their burrows were destroyed when the land was plowed for planting crops. Fortunately, the prairie dogs in Wind Cave National Park did not get poisoned or diseased, so they have always been there.
Prairie dogs live in burrows in the ground that are arranged into a large town. Within the town there are neighborhoods, and within each neighborhood the prairie dogs do everything together! They watch for enemies together, they hide from enemies together, they play together, they groom each other, and they eat together. When they meet each other, they greet each other with a kiss!
Black-footed Ferrets: Black-footed ferrets are a member of the weasel family and used to live throughout the prairies of western United States. The main food of the ferrets is prairie dogs, and the ferrets live in prairie dog towns in empty burrows. When the prairie dogs were killed by poison, disease, or by having their towns destroyed; the black-footed ferrets died too!
In 1979 black-footed ferrets were declared to be extinct, people believed that there were none of them left! In 1981 a small group of black-footed ferrets was discovered in Wyoming! The ferrets were put into a controlled breeding program so they could be saved. In 2007 some black-footed ferrets were brought to Wind Cave National Park. They were released to live in the prairie dog town as they were meant to do. Today there are approximately 40 black-footed ferrets living in the prairie dog town in Wind Cave National Park.
Application for you and me:
The helper said that he found a God-Connection in the prairie habitat. Everything on the prairie is needed to keep the prairie environment balanced and healthy.
The prairie has many types of grasses and plants. If there were no animals living on the prairie, the taller grasses would choke out the shorter grasses and other plants. The bison and elk graze on the taller grasses and keep them under control.
When the taller grasses are under control, the prairie dogs can see enemies approaching, and they eat the shorter grasses.
When the taller and shorter grasses are eaten, the other plants can grow bigger. The pronghorns eat the other plants.
Predators such as coyotes keep the herd of pronghorns and elks heathy by catching the weak and sick animals.
Prairie dogs are the food that keep the black-footed ferrets from becoming extinct.
In the same way, God designed His Church so that the people in the Church need each other. God gives different gifts and abilities to people so that when they all come together the Church functions the way that God intended it to function.
In the Bible in Romans 12:4-11 it says:
Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other. In His grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly. Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other. Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically.
When Christians choose not to participate at Church and choose not to use the gifts that God has given them, then that Church is unbalanced and is missing something. The herd of bison at Wind Cave National Park demonstrates this; the natural predators of bison are not found in the park, so the bison herd could get too big and unhealthy. It is such a problem that the park service must remove some of the bison to other parks so that the herd remains healthy and strong!
Get involved in your Church and use the gifts that God has given you! This is God’s plan and design!