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Not perfect recovery, but still a powerful reminder that “too late” isn’t always true. Stopping the damage is step one.
So thats why charles in rdr2 was so mad about some foreigners killing bisons. Never knew they were endangered (also im not an american)
I’m not American either, but have heard of the near bison extinction. They made literal mountains of nothing but bison skulls.
They skinned them and left their meat and bones to rot all over the prairie.
It’s hard to imagine it if you haven’t seen the pictures. Even then, it’s impossible.
It’s crazy to think about. Especially because it’s such a cool and unique animal. I’m just happy that bison still exist. I hope their population keeps growing even though they will never be as many as they were.
They weren’t naturally, the US state nearly exterminated the species as a tool of genocide against multiple Native American nations.
“They were god damn monsters” (said in arthur morgan’s voice)
It does the job
Wait. I need to know more about the Aperture Science dinosaur in 1889.
So I’m not bothered by the inconsistent scale… but why is there a dinosaur peeking through the bottom of the 1889 column?!
They were closing in on extinction?
THERE! ARE! FOUR!
LIGHTSBISONS!!There are 300 bison! presses button*
Each buffalo in the first picture represents 242,914 buffalo. Which means the last picture would be about 1/10th of a bison, and the middle one would be just the tip of a horn.
Each buffalo in the second picture represents 75 bison. By that metric, the first picture almost comes close to representing the third number. But the third picture just doesn’t fit here, and the first number is so huge you’d need at least 2000 times picture one to represent it.
Settlers killed buffalo to force indigenous people into the reservation system. It was a big part of the genocide here, worth looking into if you get the chance.
This is a buffalo:
They are not the same animal as American bison, which are also not European bison for that matter.
All the icons are American Buffalo though.
Isn’t that a water buffalo? Not the same animal as the American Bison COMMONLY KNOWN AS THE AMERICAN BUFFALO.
Isn’t that a water buffalo?
or as you woul call it a water bison…
Also the city was not on land, which had American bison, so no it is not named after the animal.
What is the genetic diversity of the bison? Are they are going to be very inbred soon and die out?
No.
I don’t know the history of bison population. From the image, I assume there used to be a ton of bison. But then a science experiment involving velociraptors went awry, and only a small group of bison were left alive. Then those bison made an uprising against the velociraptor-experiments and invaded their area, allowing their population to grow again.
How far off am I?
The white man had to kill the buffalo so that he could poop upon the land instead. We need our buffalo back in this land.
I like the optimistic message but the graph scale is throwing me
60,000,000? Seems like they would’ve starved anyway.
TIL There are 30,000 free roaming bison but there are 500,000 total including privately owned and commercial herds.
Yep. They are also far better for the land they graze on than cattle, as they evolved here, and so they generally eat only what they should and don’t overgraze. The meat is also far leaner and healthier than beef. We really should stop raising cattle and raise bison. The biggest issue is even “domesticated” bison are far more wild and dangerous to raise than the cattle we have bred to be docile. So risk averse ranchers are not interested.
Yeah, American bison don’t take well to husbandry, simply because they’re aggressive. They’re territorial and have bad eyesight, so their first inclination when they see a human-sized blob is usually to attack.
But yes, if you’re going to eat red meat, bison is much better than beef. It’s so lean that natives could dry it and pound it into powder for trail snacking. You can’t do that with modern beef, because it has too much fat. Even beef jerky tends to be pretty greasy.
semi-serious question: i think almost every species extinct in recent history can be brought back to live with genetic engineering?
Not really.
First of all, because we would need the DNA of those animals. Sure, you can cobble some shit together, to make an animal that looks like that extinct species, but it would not actually be that extinct species.
Another issue is the biome/niche that species lived in. They either went extinct because of changes to their environment, or, they went extinct, and that caused changes in their environment. So if you want to bring the species back, you also need to make sure they have a suitable environment to survive in.
You also can’t just bring back one. A population needs generic diversity to adapt and survive. So to de-extinct a species, you need to bring back like 25 generically varied examples. Much more work than just creating a single specimen.
Behavior matters for a species as well. If orcas went extinct in the wild, and we bought them back with a breeding program in zoos and aquarium and just released those solitary orcas into the wild, do you think they would act like orcas? Would they hunt with the same techniques? I think the pack mentality would be gone, their “language” would be gone, and I don’t think they would survive.
The reality is, extinction is a permanent thing. We may possibly have the ability to bring a species “back” but there will be permanent, population-altering irreversible effects from going extinct in the first place.
Just to add to your point. But if anyone wants a good example of what a genetic bottleneck can do to a species look no further than the cheetah, poor bastards have nigh universal anxiety. Let alone the fact that they are about as genetically diverse as a rural Icelandic town populated exclusively by scions of the Von Habsburgs, seriously they are all universal donors for each other and donated organ rejections are basically non existent.
As a biologist, can confirm.
In theory, and ignoring a wide variety of yet unsolved problems, sure!
