Nine bison calves followed their mama across a Yellowstone River. Eight of them were immediately sucked into the current, which threatened to sweep them away in a matter of seconds.

But these tiny bison calves didn’t give up. They fought to get back to their mother, and as this footage shows, it was a fight to remember.

Watch These Tiny Bison Calves Fight the Yellowstone River Current

As the mama bison safely makes it to shore, eight of her babies are caught in the current and swept downriver. Tiny as these bison may be, they put up a great fight.

Four of them are able to fight against the current, reaching the shallows along the shore within seconds, and then walking along the shallows until they reunite with their mother.

However, the other four have to fight harder. They repeatedly jumped out of the water, trying to land in the shallows, like their siblings. But the current is too strong. Each leap sees them getting carried further downstream.

Their fortunes changed at a slight bend in the river, where the water was a little bit shallower, and they were able to leap to the side, landing in the shallows next to the river’s edge.

From there, they charged against the rushing current, making their way back towards their herd.

Why Bison Cross Rivers at Yellowstone

Yellowstone bison use rivers and streams as a type of natural highway during winter and spring migrations. Their migratory patterns usually follow seasonal changes and weather conditions that aid them in grazing.

Although bison calves heavily depend on their mothers for protection during the first year of their lives, sometimes the herd’s need to find food requires them to do things that threaten their survival, like crossing a fast-moving river.

A young calf can easily get swept away by the current, sometimes drowning or getting separated from the herd for good, which is a scenario they’re unlikely to survive.

However, unlike the bison mother in this clip, some will stay by their calves’ side during this perilous crossing, blocking the current so their babies can safely cross with them.

As many parents understand, young ones can face steep learning curves. When it comes to bison calves, many of them have to learn how to cross the river if they want to keep up with the herd and survive.

This is where nature can be especially brutal, as the bison calves in this footage quickly found out. If they could not find a way to fight through the current, they would be separated from their mother, their herd, and likely not survive for very long afterward.

Thankfully for these bison calves, all of them survived. Although this video notes that this crossing took around 15 minutes, and these bison calves got separated from their mama and pulled downstream multiple times, they never gave up, and their fight to survive paid off.