Genetically Pure Buffalo Return

While driving down the road recently, I heard a news flash that purebred buffalo have been genetically cleansed by Colorado State University and the calves will be released at Soapstone Preserve in northern Colorado. It piqued my interest because I recently wrote a seven-part series on white buffalo and how rare [once in every ten million births] they are among the purebred buffalo [click to reference articles on white buffalo].

Recently, buffalo have come under attack fearing that those buffalo who have cattle in their genetics might be a danger to regular cattle because of their potential for brucellosis, which could infect cattle and people.

There are very few purebred bison in North America anymore and the largest herd, about 4,000, is in Yellowstone National Park. Colorado State University researchers brought one of the Yellowstone bison to Fort Collins and “flushed the embryo” to remove the disease and to produce a genetically pure calf.

The project hopes to launch an embryo transfer project that will resurrect purebred herds that were all but extinct a century ago. In 2012, the first calf was born in the Bronx Zoo in New York. “The idea is to produce enough calves to supply other zoos and species conservation groups working to restore bison herds”, said Pat Thomas, curator and associate director of the Bronx Zoo. That 125-pound reddish-brown male calf was the first of many bison that will not carry genetic traits of cattle.

Jennifer Barfield, CSU, The Laramie Foothills Bison Conservation Herd, a genetically pure, Brucella abortus-free bison herd is released in Soapstone Prairie Natural Area and Larimer County Red Mountain Open Space, November 1, 2015, National Bison Day.

Bison embryo transplantation “gives us an avenue to bring out genetics that have been isolated for a long time,” CSU reproductive physiologist Jennifer Barfield said, “This could be used for a lot of different species. It provides us a way to create new offspring where it was previously impossible or very difficult. We’re able to create new animals that can be used by zoos starting herds and to help expand populations that need it. The possibilities are endless.”

A Texas professor tested the DNA of the bison that produced the embryo, Barfield said, and has verified they carried no cattle genes. Proof that the calf is pure “should be a sure thing,” she said.

“Any time you apply a technique to a new species, there’s going to be uncertainty. We are thrilled this (embryo transfer) was successful,” Thomas said, praising the CSU team.

Quoted from Denver Post article by Bruce Finley, August 31, 2012, “A century ago, hunting by humans brought bison to the brink of extinction with fewer than 1,100 left. Settlers shot bison from trains. Previously, tens of millions of bison roamed North America.

“New York conservationists began trying to save bison in 1907, sending bison survivors west in hopes they’d create new herds. But the western ranchers who nurtured surviving bison relied on interbreeding with cattle to try to increase bison numbers.

“Today, wild bison number around 19,820 nationwide, according to the Denver-based National Bison Association. An estimated 198,000 bison are raised on ranches for hides and meat.

“Denver maintains a municipal bison herd that was established in 1914, using bison hauled from Yellowstone. Today, about 55 bison graze behind 12-foot fences topped with barbed wire in city parks – bred from ancestors who were domesticated after mixing with cattle.

“But some now act wild. Denver bison calves increasingly are born with humps on their backs, distinct from flat- backed cattle. City herd supervisors have observed that, when coyotes approach, the bison band together with bulls on patrol — reverting to wild herd behavior.” [Bruce Finley: 303-954-1700 twitter.com/finleybruce or bfinley@denverpost.com ]

From Colorado State “Source”, by Coleman Cornelius, November 2015:

SOAPSTONE PRAIRIE NATURAL AREA – Modern science and ancient ritual combined Sunday as a herd of 10 American bison thundered from a holding corral onto the northern Colorado prairie, the first step to restoring the nation’s largest iconic land mammal to this part of its historic range.

“It was the first time in nearly 150 years that bison with complete heirloom genetics – from in and around Yellowstone National Park – had touched public grasslands near the Wyoming border north of Fort Collins.

“About 350 community members and project partners gathered to watch the Laramie Foothills Bison Conservation Herd charge onto 1,000 fenced acres at Soapstone Prairie Natural Area and Red Mountain Open Space.

"Before the release, a spiritual leader from the Crow Nation of Montana offered a prayer in his native Apsaalooké language, as the golden eagle feathers in his headdress waved in the prairie wind. Four Native American guests then drummed and sang a Pawnee going-home song.

“I want to wish the buffalo well going back to their homelands,” drummer Dwayne Iron told those assembled.”

“It’s a bit indescribable, the feeling you get from seeing the excitement of the animals and the way they ran out of the gate and took off running across the prairie,” Jennifer Barfield, the project’s lead reproduction scientist, said moments after the bison were released. “I’m just filled with pride for the team and what’s been accomplished here.”

Barfield has used assisted reproductive technologies, including in vitro fertilization, artificial insemination and embryo transfer, to achieve bison pregnancies and offspring with complete Yellowstone bloodlines. To these fertility techniques, she has added high-tech washing – special baths for sperm cells and embryos – to get rid of bacteria that cause brucellosis.

The problematic disease is endemic to Yellowstone; it triggers abortion and premature births in bison, elk and cattle. Brucellosis can also infect people, causing severe bouts of fever. For these reasons, reintroducing bison with Yellowstone bloodlines to other parts of the country has been difficult or impossible.

Reproduction science has provided a workaround to the vexing problem of brucellosis, while also introducing original and diverse bison genetics that could help many other bison conservation efforts nationwide.

[Photos by William A. Coleman, CSU Photography]

#Buffalo #Bison #NativeAmericanAntiquity