The Bison Blog

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How can history impact a species’ future? Bison were nearly driven extinct in the late 1800s by overhunting and ranching. Today, scientists at Theodore Roosevelt National Park and across the continent are studying bison DNA to discover how that chapter of history changed their gene pool — and bison themselves — forever.

A Bison Travelogue

August 24, 2017 Posted by: Hazel Galloway

The bison of Theodore Roosevelt National Park aren't native to this area. A bit of digging reveals that the TRNP herd is descended from wild bison captured all over the plains from Texas to Saskatchewan, just before their disappearance from the wild. This brief history reveals not only their diverse origins, but also the very human stories that shaped the survival of a species...

history, bison, beefalo, science

 

A Bottle Full of Bison

August 24, 2017 Posted by: Hazel Galloway

<a href="/thro/blogs/a-bottle-full-of-bison.htm" id="CP___PAGEID=5630550,a-bottle-full-of-bison.htm,30814|"><img align="left" alt="Model of genetic bottleneck using M&Ms" border="0" data-render="0|0|0|1|700|314" height="314" hspace="20" id="CP___PAGEID=5630550,a-bottle-full-of-bison.htm,30814||CPIMAGE:5630569|0|" src="/images/DSC04717_2.JPG" title="Genetic Bottleneck" vspace="0" width="700" /></a>
What do M&Ms have to do with bison? If you just pour our a few M&Ms randomly, the colors you get probably aren't going to match the larger population. In the same way, when 99.997% of the animals in a species disappear, the DNA of the species is forever changed. Like many other large mammals, the future of bison is shaped by their past...
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DNA, history, science, bison