It’s as if bison have an attitude!  A few days ago, one of my fellow broadcasters posted a video of bison butting heads at a campground.  Don’t try this at home!  Bison are the size of some pickup trucks and they aren’t nearly as cuddly as they look.  For the latest on conflict resolution skills, check out this link from Field and Stream.  The National Park Service has posted a video of a duel along a highway. 

Bison are the size of some pickup trucks and they aren’t nearly as cuddly as they look.

It happened at Yellowstone National Park.  Home to a lot of angry bison.  Considering how they were treated in the 19th Century, I can see why they’re not very diplomatic.

My first encounter with a bison herd was almost 30 years ago.  The animals had been gifted to an eastern indigenous tribe by a western tribe.  The bison had a knack for escaping and then would wander an Interstate and the surrounding farmland.  I was a young news reporter and was sent to track them down.  I found them near a dairy farm, standing in the middle of a country road.

I kept a safe distance, opened the car door, and using it as a shield, called the office.  A guy pulled up behind me and became impatient.  He started beeping his horn.  How he didn’t see the herd is beyond me.  I pointed and he looked ahead of me.  His eyes got as big as saucers.  He turned around and sped away.

Deputies heard me broadcasting live from the scene and they shortly arrived with some cowboys and rounded up the wandering animals.

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LOOK: Here are the pets banned in each state

Because the regulation of exotic animals is left to states, some organizations, including The Humane Society of the United States, advocate for federal, standardized legislation that would ban owning large cats, bears, primates, and large poisonous snakes as pets.

Read on to see which pets are banned in your home state, as well as across the nation.

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