Free-moving herds of migratory bison in Yellowstone National Park are stimulating the regrowth of flourishing grasslands and reshaping ecosystems, a new study has found.

Contrary to conventional grazing wisdom, the findings suggest that encouraging large-scale migrations of these massive mammals could help enhance landscapes across North America, according to the research, published Thursday in Science.

“With the current large herds of bison, Yellowstone grasslands are functioning better than in their absence,” said co-lead author Bill Hamilton, a professor in research science at Washington and Lee University, in a statement.

“This version is a glimpse of what was lost when bison were nearly wiped out across North America in the late 1800s,” Hamilton added.

Historically, the continent supported tens of millions of bison, whose seasonal migration activities transformed the region’s grasslands, the researchers noted.

But today, herds of wild, free-roaming bison are few and far between.

Driven to near........

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