Dr. Michael Yellowbird ties indigenous practice and neuroscience to the human–animal bond

Dr. Michael Yellowbird, president of the Native American Humane Society and a member of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara tribes, spoke in Missoula about the historical and neurobiological roots of the human–animal bond and how Indigenous contemplative practices inform healing for people and animals.

Yellowbird described growing up on the Fort Berthold Reservation and the cultural practices that tied people and animals together, including naming traditions and ceremonies. He said those practices persisted even as communities adapted to changing circumstances: “we still have some of those remnants in our community,” he said, describing how animals were integrated into daily life and ceremonial medicine.

The presentation wove personal anecdotes, clinical concepts and genetics. Yellowbird discussed genetic markers and trauma, citing the COMT gene and a variant he described as associated with heightened placebo responsiveness, and ADRA2B as linked to “enhanced emotional vividness” that can deepen traumatic memory. He described how trauma can be triggered by “sight, sound, taste, touch, smell” and how a single cue can retrieve consolidated memories in both humans and animals.

Yellowbird used a family story to illustrate how Indigenous ceremony has been used to treat trauma in people and horses. After a riding incident involving his son, Yellowbird said the community’s Sundance chief performed ceremonies both for the rider and for the horse and for the place where the incident occurred. Yellowbird said the elder told him that after battles the people would “cleanse that place for everybody,” a practice that…