JAMESTOWN (AP) - It took a bag of apples to get close enough to White Cloud, the area's albino bison, and determine that her new white calf is a male.

Now, the National Buffalo Museum is holding a contest to give him a name.

"White Cloud is bringing him out a little more now," said Felicia Sargeant, the museum director. "So we gave her a little treat to get her to stand still long enough to determine the (calf's) sex."

The bison baby, White Cloud's fifth, was born Aug. 31.

The contest to find a name for the calf runs through Nov. 30. Sargeant said a committee will go through the names in December and will announce the winner Jan. 8. The Shirek family will make the final decision on the name.

Daniel and Jean Shirek, of the northeastern North Dakota town of Michigan, own White Cloud and lease her to the buffalo museum. She joined the Jamestown herd 11 years ago.

"We want to get as many people involved as we can," Sargeant said of the naming contest. "We had 1,500 entries for Princess Winona (White Cloud's first calf)."

Names for the bison calf must be submitted in writing. The entries can be e-mailed to director@;buffalomuseum.com or mailed to Name White Cloud's Calf, National Buffalo Museum, 500 17th St. S.E., Jamestown, N.D. 58401. People also can fill out an entry form at the museum.

The winner of the contest gets a one-year family membership to the museum and a $100 gift certificate to the museum's Prairie Winds Gift Shop.