There is a world somewhere between reality and fiction. Although ignored by many, it is very real and so are those living in it. This forum is about the natural world. Here, wild animals will be heard and respected. The forum offers a glimpse into an unknown world as well as a room with a view on the present and the future. Anyone able to speak on behalf of those living in the emerald forest and the deep blue sea is invited to join.
In helping to save the U.S. national mammal from extinction long ago, ranchers introduced cattle genes into buffalo. But the news isn’t all bad.
Quote:Bison once numbered in the hundreds of millions and roamed in vast herds throughout North America. But after Europeans colonized and began developing the continent, the newcomers set about killing the shaggy herbivores en masse. Their numbers declined rapidly, and, by the 1870s, American bison—also called buffalo—had nearly gone extinct, dropping to a total population of around 500.
But bison are survivors. They hung on in a small herd in what’s now Yellowstone National Park, as well as another tiny population in Canada. A handful of ranchers also kept some alive, most of whom also experimented with breeding buffalo and cattle in a failed attempt to create a better beef-producing animal.
More than a century’s worth of dedicated conservation has helped the animals rebound tremendously, to a total population around 500,000.
But hidden in their DNA, these iconic species bear marks of their scrape with humanity: A recent study published in the journal Scientific Reports finds that all American bison tested have low but significant quantities of domestic cattle DNA.
The results came as a surprise to study co-author James Derr, a biologist at Texas A&M University. “I was absolutely in denial,” he says. “It was like being punched in the mouth.”
The result is upsetting, Derr says, because bison in Yellowstone and a few other populations were once thought to be free of cattle genes. But there may also be an upside: Some government restrictions on breeding bison—such as preventing gene flow into certain populations, for fear of ruining the group’s genetic “purity”—might be unnecessary, he adds.
“It opens up opportunities to manage [herds] based on the best available resources,” Derr says.
American Bison (Bison bison)
