Rare White Bison Calf

A ‘one-in-ten-million’ rare white bison calf was just born in Wyoming

A rare “one-in-ten-billion” albino white bison was born in a Wyoming state park on Tuesday.

White bison are considered sacred to some Native Americans, according to the Native American College Fund.

Bear River Park Superintendent Tyfani Sager said that the calf is small but doing well, Cowboy State Daily reported.

A bison named Wyoming Hope gave birth to a rare, “one-in-ten-million” albino white bison on Tuesday in a Wyoming state park.

The buffalo was born at Bear River State Park around 6:30 p.m., according to Cowboy State Daily, a statewide non-profit news organization in Wyoming. The baby weighs around 30 pounds, according to the outlet.

Park Superintendent Tyfani Sager told the outlet the bison is small, but doing well.

Sager said the park has not determined the sex of the bison yet, and that tourist traffic has been up at the park since its birth on Tuesday.

“We’re not sure if it’s a bull calf or a heifer calf,” Sager said, according to Cowboy State Daily. “They’re real furry and it’s hard to tell right off the bat.”

According to the American Indian College Fund, albino white bison are considered sacred among some Native American communities and are extremely rare.

White bison are considered sacred to the Lakota Sioux, who were starving during one summer because there was no game near them, according to the organization. Native legends say that two young men in the tribe went looking for food in the Black Hills of South Dakota, where they met a woman dressed in white who said, “return to your people and tell them I am coming,” the organization said in a release.

According to the legend, the woman rolled on the ground four times before turning into a white bison herself. Bison were then plentiful for the Lakota Sioux, the legend says.

The slaughter of a white bison and its mother on a Lakota ranch in 2012 was considered an outrage by others in the community, according to the Native American College Fund.

Wyoming state parks did not immediately return Insider’s request for comment on Sunday.