Buffalo behind Smithsonian Institution Building These American bison, also known as buffalo, were part of the Smithsonian's <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/233">Department of Living Animals</a>. The Department was started by chief taxidermist <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/234">William T. Hornaday</a>, who was a spokesman for the conservation movement and very concerned about the possible extinction of American bison. The bison formed part of a collection of wild North American animals in a small sort of zoo in the yard behind the <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/52">Smithsonian Castle</a> in the late 1880s and early 1890s, before the establishment of the National Zoo. Smithsonian Institution Archives. <a href="http://siris-sihistory.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?&amp;profile=all&amp;source=~!sichronology&amp;uri=full=3100001~!9175~!0#focus">View original</a>. 1886-1889 <a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=38&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1860-1889">1860-1889</a>