Congress declared the bison America’s national mammal in a recent act passed through both chambers. Now only President Barack Obama needs to sign the legislation before the horned beast becomes the symbol of the free.
“No other indigenous species tells America’s story better than this noble creature,” Missouri Rep. William Lacy Clay said in a statement. “The American bison is an enduring symbol of strength, Native American culture and the boundless Western wildness.”
That National Bison Legacy Act was proposed in September before passing late last month.
The bald eagle is still considered America’s national bird and animal, though.
According to history.com:
“The bald eagle’s role as a national symbol is linked to its 1782 landing on the Great Seal of the United States. Shortly after the Declaration of Independence was signed on July 4, 1776, the Continental Congress gave Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams the job of designing an official seal for the new nation. However, the three Founding Fathers failed to come up with a design that won Congress’ approval, as did two later committees that were given the task. In mid-June 1782, the work of all three committees was handed over to Charles Thomson, the secretary of Congress. Thomson chose what he thought were the best elements of the various designs and made the eagle—which had been introduced by artistically inclined Pennsylvania lawyer William Barton in a design submitted by the third committee—more prominent. (Since ancient times, the eagle has been considered a sign of strength; Roman legions used the animal as their standard, or symbol.)”
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