Researchers have confirmed that a breed of genetically pure bison still exists, and they can be found at the Henry Mountains of Southern Utah.
The team noted that the bison herd is one of a kind in that it is not only genetically pure, but is also free of the disease brucellosis and legally hunted. They are also co-existing with cattle and free-ranging on public land.
"It's a large credit to the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, the Bureau of Land Management, and the local Henry Mountains Grazing Association. Over the years, they worked together to conserve this resource," said Johan du Toit, a professor of Ecology and Large Mammal Conservation at Utah State University, and one of the scientists from USU that took part of the research, according to White Wolf Pack.
They used tissue samples from the group of bison discovered in Henry Mountain in order to prove that the herd is indeed of pure breed. This means that these animals have not interbred with other species, which they are known to commonly do with cattle.
"Now, we only have 500,000 bison but, of those, only 20,000 are what we would consider to be wild bison. Now we have a third herd of free-ranging bison that is disease-free and doesn't show any introgression of cattle genes. That actually makes the Henry Mountains bison, in a way, almost even more valuable than the herd in Yellowstone. Because of that, they can represent a really important source for potential reintroduction projects that are trying to restore bison to a large portion of their native range," said Dustin Ranglack, lead author of the study, according to Utah Public Radio website.
The discovery of the genetically pure bison herd can greatly improve future bison conservation projects.
