11 baby bison add to herd this year at Fermilab
A highlight every year at Fermilab is the birth of the year's first bison.
Six new males and five females have increased the herd to 29, with a chance for a few more still to come.
The calves weigh in at about 35 pounds when they're born and are up and walking within 90 minutes. This season's first birth came in the early morning hours of April 18, with the second arriving by noon that day.
Fermilab's first director, Robert Wilson, established the herd in 1969 as a symbol of the history of the Midwestern prairie and the laboratory's pioneering research at the frontiers of particle physics.
Fermilab property includes nearly 1,000 acres of reconstructed tallgrass prairie, as well as remnant oak savannas, marshes and forests.
While visiting the bison, people can learn more about the lab's ecological efforts by hiking the Interpretive Prairie Trail near the Pine Street entrance in Batavia. The Lederman Science Center also offers exhibits on the prairie and hands-on physics displays.
The Lederman Center hours are 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. weekdays and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday. The 15th floor of Wilson Hall is also open during those times.
For updated information and learn more about the bison herd, go to fnal.gov, particularly its Lederman Science Center page, or call (630) 840-3351.