Despite, only this year they will finally make the bald eagle the national bird. Which, I also learned that they are not official symbols until a President signs a document for them to be. It is just a recognized symbol but not official. (Just my opinion but why do they really need a bill for this? What changes would making anything like this official really do?)
Here is a list of other US symbols (article includes links to other countries of the world national symbols, some official, some not made official) if you are interested:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_symbols_of_the_United_States
Buffalo.
I will die on this hill.
If you are on a hill with either a Bison or a Buffalo, the odds of you dying are high.
European bison were called bison a thousand years before America was discovered by Europeans and is a very close relative (different species). Buffalo is the name of the African animal that is only distantly related (different genus) and has been called bufalus by Europeans since before America was discovered by those same Europeans.
If you are going to die on a hill, might as well call them by the names given to them by people who lived with them for thousands of years before Europeans came here:
in Arapaho: bii (bison cow), henéécee (bison bull)
in Lakota: pté (bison cow), tȟatȟáŋka (bison bull) - we all know how to pronounce that one, thanks to Dances with Wolves.
Where is the home where the buffalo roam? Is it in Senegal?
Was Buffalo Bill called that because he was an African game hunter?
Is it called a buffalo nickel because it has a bison on it?
And I can’t speak for you, but I only see buffalo burger on menus as an alternative option, they seem to have left bison off.
I rest my case. And if you wish to appeal, you can write to me in Buffalo, New York.
I dunno, Bison Bison Bison (actual taxanomic name) might disagree with you!
The eagle not being official is surprising since bald eagles have been protected with a pretty severe fine since 1940.
No the eagle was the national bird just ridiculous that they have to sign a whole bill for it to be official. Seems like a waste of resources.
How else would it be official though?
Presidential decree could be overturned every time the president changes. If there was an agency that declared things to be official, then they would have to pass a law to grant them the power to do that.
Being official always starts with laws, might as well do the whole thing at once.
Official by tradition or custom https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customary_law
Also…Benjamin Franklin bitched about the choice of the bald eagle over the turkey?
Canadian dollars are maple coins, Australian dollars are kangaroo coins, American dollars are eagle coins…
.25 and .5 do. Our current dollar coin is a Native American named Sacagawea.
What about like…humans?
Bison are better mammals than humans. Especially American humans.
Also they were here first.
He really picked the animal systematically slaughtered by colonizers for the purpose of starving and controlling the indigenous peoples America genocided. What could be more American I guess
perhaps it was meant as a way to pay honor to the species rather than forgotten completely?
nahhh, you’re probably right. Obama was a malicious sadistic cock sucker of a president that actually took great pleasure in hunting endangered species.
/s
Do we pick it by the species of which we murdered the most?
