This is the epic moment hundreds of bison ‘caused the ground to shake’ as they stampeded just metres from a family’s rental car.

Ernie Santana and his kids were visiting Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, USA, on July 20 when a vehicle in front of them came to a halt.

Breathtaking footage showed the reason as a cloud of dust in the distance was closely followed by the iconic animals running past.

Several hundreds of the bison, including adults and their young, past close by Ernie’s car, forcing him to pull the wing mirror closed to avoid it being hit.

Ernie said: “We could literally feel the ground shake as they passed by us. Some were so close to our car, I had to pull in the side view mirror for fear it would get torn off.

“We were worried about them hitting our rental and having to explain that to our insurance company.

“The car in front of us stopped so it gave me a chance to record. In the distance there was a huge plume of dust as the bison were crossing a ravine there.

“Some ran past and many just leisurely walked but all of them had a purpose. We had never seen anything like that.

“It had to be several hundred in all. It was very special.

“I told my wife that this was a once in a lifetime episode and I was willing to bet there were very few people who had ever visited Yellowstone had gotten to witness something like this.”