To the far right of the frieze, on a separate wall, a huge, finely modelled bison stands alone, gazing stage left toward a pair of figures painted on a conical outcropping of rock that descends from the ceiling and comes to a point about four feet above the floor.
Tourists rarely see any of the 35 tigers thought to be living in the 925 sq km reserve, but the guides pointed out giant squirrels in the cotton trees surrounded by huge pink flowers, bison in the distance – and I concentrated hard on the movements of a cobra slicing through the lake in front of us, raising its neck out on to the bank like a yoga master.
Staff members were left scrambling to accommodate the changes, shuffling around a huge grizzly bear, mounting bison and elk heads directly into the office's carved oak paneling, and making way for a $1,749 leather couch from California that included "white-glove delivery service".
Ice Age America boasted huge saber-toothed tigers, woolly bison, giant antelopes, and the woolly mammoth.
"We think having our players and team being watched in New York and on TV is a huge opportunity," said Jon Dandes, the Bisons' president for baseball operations.
Last night, I drove south to Amarillo, a high-plains cattle town on the western fringe of Texas, and ate dinner at a steakhouse that easily seats 500 people, the walls adorned with stuffed bears, the heads of bison, elk and deer and huge hides stripped off of cattle.
The bison, skittish and nervous despite their huge size, walk off the lorries and up the path to their 15 hectare (150 acres) site (in September their range will expand to 160 hectare).
The travelers' stores were supplemented by shooting bison, which roamed the Great Plains in huge numbers.
The effort involved shuffling around a huge grizzly bear, mounting the heads of a bison and elk directly into the office's carved oak paneling, and accommodating the arrival of a $1,749 leather couch from California that included "white-glove delivery service".
