PAWHUSKA, Okla. — Six bison have joined the Osage Nation’s herd from the Bronx Zoo.

Osage Nation officials posted to social media that three male and three female bison born at the Bronx Zoo joined the nearly 200 bison at the nation’s 43,000-acre ranch this week.

The addition comes as part of a conservation program that started more than a century ago when the American bison faced extinction and the U.S. bison population numbered fewer than 1,000.

“The return of the bison holds great significance to Osage people,” Chief Geoffrey Standing Bear of the Osage Nation said in a social media post. “Bison are not only a mark of our past; they are a symbol of our future. With the great success of our surface reservation growth through land purchases, we now have a home for bison to continue their resurgence. On behalf of the Osage Nation, I would like to express gratitude to the Bronx Zoo for its conservation efforts and programs that contribute to the growth and diversification of our herd.”

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