Wind Cave Bison Herd - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Wind Cave bison herd is a herd of 250–400 American Bison

American Bison

The American bison , also commonly known as the American buffalo, is a North American species of bison that once roamed the grasslands of North America in massive herds...

in Wind Cave National Park

Wind Cave National Park

Wind Cave National Park is a United States national park north of the town of Hot Springs in western South Dakota. Established in 1903 by President Theodore Roosevelt, it was the seventh U.S. National Park and the first cave to be designated a national park anywhere in the world. The cave is...

, South Dakota

South Dakota

South Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux American Indian tribes. Once a part of Dakota Territory, South Dakota became a state on November 2, 1889. The state has an area of and an estimated population of just over...

, USA. It is believed to be one of only four free roaming and genetically pure herds on public lands in North America. The other three herds are the Yellowstone Park bison herd

Yellowstone Park Bison Herd

The Yellowstone Park bison herd in Yellowstone National Park is probably the oldest and largest public bison herd in the United States of America. Yellowstone is known for its geothermal activity and large mammals, especially Elk, Wolves, American Bison, Bears, Pronghorn Antelope, Moose and Bighorn...

, the Henry Mountains bison herd

Henry Mountains Bison Herd

The Henry Mountains Bison Herd, numbering 250 to 400 bison, is believed to be one of only four free roaming and genetically pure herds on public lands in North America...

in Central Utah

Utah

Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...

, and on Elk Island in Alberta, Canada. The Wind Cave Herd are of the Plains Bison

Plains Bison

The Plains Bison or Common bison is one of two subspecies/ecotypes of the American Bison, the other being the Wood Bison . Furthermore, it has been suggested that the Plains Bison consists of a northern and a southern subspecies, bringing the total to three...

subspecies (Bison bison bison).

History

The American Bison (Bison bison) once numbered in the millions, perhaps between 25 million and 60 million by some estimates, and they were possibly the most numerous large land animal on earth. However, they were hunted to near extinction throughout North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

by the late 1880s. The Wind Cave Bison Herd was started with 14 bison from the New York Zoological Society and with six animals transplanted from the Yellowstone Park Bison Herd. In addition, in the 1960s, one single bull bison was received from Theodore Roosevelt National Park

Theodore Roosevelt National Park

Theodore Roosevelt National Park is a United States National Park comprising three geographically separated areas of badlands in western North Dakota. The park was named for U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, in honor of his achievements in conservation as president and for the landscape's...

. The Yellowstone Park Bison Herd

Yellowstone Park Bison Herd

was the last free-ranging bison herd in the United States and the only place where they did not go locally extinct, so they have become at least part of the foundation stock for many other herds, including the Wind Cave Bison Herd.

Ecology

Wind Cave National Park has large areas of grassland prairie

Prairie

Prairies are considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the dominant vegetation type...

and this provides a nearly optimum environment for American Bison.

Bison are large herd animals that defend their young vigorously. American Bison can run up to 35 miles (56.3 km) per hour and are surprisingly agile, in addition to their notable strength and irritable temperament. However, there are limited numbers of potential apex predators of these bison. Significant apex predators that could help control the bison population would include Brown Bears

Brown Bears

The Brown Bears is a name shared by all sports teams at Brown University, a university located in Providence, Rhode Island in the United States. The Bears are part of the Ivy League conference. Brown's mascot is Bruno. Both the men's and women's teams share the name, competing in 37 National...

, Grizzly Bears, and Wolves, and these are currently absent from the area. Some people suggest that the Wind Cave area could support a population of these predators, if they were re-introduced. Wind Cave National Park by itself, at 28000 acres (11,331.2 ha), might not be large enough for a viable population of predators; however it is part of a much larger area of extended grassland prairie. Other large mammals found in the area include Elk

Elk

The Elk is the large deer, also called Cervus canadensis or wapiti, of North America and eastern Asia.Elk may also refer to:Other antlered mammals:...

, Coyote

Coyote

The coyote , also known as the American jackal or the prairie wolf, is a species of canine found throughout North and Central America, ranging from Panama in the south, north through Mexico, the United States and Canada...

s, Bobcat

Bobcat

The bobcat is a North American mammal of the cat family Felidae, appearing during the Irvingtonian stage of around 1.8 million years ago . With twelve recognized subspecies, it ranges from southern Canada to northern Mexico, including most of the continental United States...

s, Deer

Deer

Deer are the ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. Species in the Cervidae family include white-tailed deer, elk, moose, red deer, reindeer, fallow deer, roe deer and chital. Male deer of all species and female reindeer grow and shed new antlers each year...

, and Pronghorn Antelope. Competitive pressure from the other large grazing mammals in Wind Cave National Park might also help limit the number of bison in the herd, but this is not considered to have a significant effect on bison numbers.

Genetics

The Wind Cave Bison Herd is considered to be genetically pure, meaning that there is no evidence of significant hybridization between these bison and cattle. This genetic purity appears to be different from the majority of private and public bison herds in the United States. Genetic testing shows that there now appear to be some cattle genes present in approximately 95% of the bison surveyed in other areas.

Though the American Bison (Species: Bison bison) is not only a separate species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

, but actually in a separate genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

from domestic cattle (Bos primigenius), they clearly have a lot of genetic compatibility and American Bison can interbreed freely with cattle. Moreover, when they do interbreed, the crossbreeds tend to look very much like purebred Bison, so appearance is completely unreliable as a means of determining what is a purebred bison and what is a crossbred cow. Many ranchers have deliberately crossbred their cattle with bison, and it would also be expected that there could be some natural hybridization in areas where cattle and bison occur in the same range. Since cattle and bison eat similar food and tolerate similar conditions, they have often been in the same range together in the past, and opportunity for cross breeding may sometimes have been common.

In recent decades tests were developed to determine the source of mitochondrial DNA

Mitochondrial DNA

Mitochondrial DNA is the DNA located in organelles called mitochondria, structures within eukaryotic cells that convert the chemical energy from food into a form that cells can use, adenosine triphosphate...

in cattle and bison, and it was found that most private 'buffalo' herds were actually crossbred with cattle, and even most state and federal buffalo herds had some cattle DNA. With the advent of nuclear microsatellite DNA testing, the number of herds that contained cattle genes has increased. Though approximately 500,000 bison exist on private ranches and in public herds, some people estimate that perhaps only 15,000 to 25,000 of these bison are pure and are not actually bison-cattle hybrids. "DNA from domestic cattle (Bos taurus) has been detected in nearly all bison herds examined to date." Significant public bison herds that do not appear to have hybridized domestic cattle genes are the Yellowstone Park Bison Herd

Yellowstone Park Bison Herd

, the Henry Mountains Bison Herd

Henry Mountains Bison Herd

The Henry Mountains Bison Herd, numbering 250 to 400 bison, is believed to be one of only four free roaming and genetically pure herds on public lands in North America...

which was started with bison taken from Yellowstone Park, the Wind Cave Bison Herd

Wind Cave Bison Herd

The Wind Cave bison herd is a herd of 250–400 American Bison in Wind Cave National Park, South Dakota, USA. It is believed to be one of only four free roaming and genetically pure herds on public lands in North America. The other three herds are the Yellowstone Park bison herd, the Henry Mountains...

, and the Wood Buffalo National Park Bison Herd and subsidiary herds started from it, in Canada.

A landmark study of bison genetics that was performed by James Derr of the Texas A&M University corroborated this. The Derr study was undertaken in an attempt to determine what genetic problems bison might face as they repopulate former areas, and it noted that bison seem to be doing quite well, despite their apparent genetic bottleneck. One possible explanation for this might be the small amount of domestic cattle genes that are now in most bison populations, though this isn't the only possible explanation for bison success.

In the study cattle genes were also found in small amounts throughout most herds. "The hybridization experiments conducted by some of the owners of the five foundation herds of the late 1800s, have left a legacy of a small amount of cattle genetics in many of our existing bison herds." He also said, "All of the state owned bison herds tested (except for possibly one) contain
animals with domestic cattle mtDNA." It appears that the one state herd that had no cattle genes was the Henry Mountains Bison Herd

Henry Mountains Bison Herd

The Henry Mountains Bison Herd, numbering 250 to 400 bison, is believed to be one of only four free roaming and genetically pure herds on public lands in North America...

in the Henry Mountains

Henry Mountains

The Henry Mountains are located in the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of Utah and run in a generally north-south direction, extending over a distance of about 30 miles . They were named by John Wesley Powell in honour of Joseph Henry, the first secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. The...

of Utah. Most other national herds, except Wind Cave and Yellowstone, also appear to be hybridized.

So, are the bison in Wind Cave National Park completely free of genes from Domestic Cattle? It would appear so at the current time. However, there are those geneticists that speculate that in the future, as our genetic testing improves, it may be discovered that almost all bison have some genetic inheritance from domestic cattle.

A separate study by Wilson and Strobeck, published in Genome, was done to define the relationships between different herds of bison in the United States and Canada, and to determine whether the bison at Wood Buffalo National Park

Wood Buffalo National Park

Wood Buffalo National Park, located in northeastern Alberta and southern Northwest Territories, is the largest national park in Canada at . The park was established in 1922 to protect the world's largest herd of free roaming Wood Bison, currently estimated at more than 5,000...

in Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

and the Yellowstone Park Bison Herd

Yellowstone Park Bison Herd

were possibly separate subspecies, and not Plains Bison. Some people had suggested that the Yellowstone Park Bison were actually either of the 'athabascae' (Wood Buffalo) subspecies, or else that they were of an unspecified 'mountain' subspecies. In the study, it was determined that the Wood Buffalo Park bison were actually cross breeds between Plains Bison and Wood Bison, but that their predominant genetic makeup was truly that of the expected "Wood Buffalo" (Bison bison athabascae). However, the Yellowstone Park Bison Herd

Yellowstone Park Bison Herd

were pure Plains Bison (Bison bison bison), and not any of the other previously suggested subspecies. This is significant for the Wind Cave Bison Herd, since this herd was founded, in part, with animals from the Yellowstone Park Bison Herd

Yellowstone Park Bison Herd

. The bison in Wind Cave National park were also Plains Bison, as expected.

Future

American Bison

The American bison , also commonly known as the American buffalo, is a North American species of bison that once roamed the grasslands of North America in massive herds...

became extinct over almost their entire former range by 1890, with only the Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone National Park, established by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant on March 1, 1872, is a national park located primarily in the U.S. state of Wyoming, although it also extends into Montana and Idaho...

bison remaining free and in their natural environment, in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. Even that herd was reduced to only a few dozen individuals, so concerns about a genetic bottleneck are significant. Now bison number approximately 500,000, but most of these are bison-cattle hybrids, and are contained in private herds, for ranching and meat purposes, rather than roaming the plains by the millions, as they did previously. Some herds, such as the Wind Cave Bison Herd are free, but their range is restricted and the re-establishment of large bison populations is not assured. Considering these factors, there remain various questions and concerns regarding future management of the Wind Cave Bison Herd.

With their genetic purity and the healthy condition of the Wind Cave Bison, they should have a significant role to play in the re-establishment of bison populations. Private groups, as well as governmental entities in the United States and Canada, are making efforts to return Bison to much of their previous natural range. In moving bison to new locations, great care should be taken to maintain their genetic diversity, to ensure that valuable genes are not irrevocably lost. Care should also be taken when dealing with any already existing herd, to try to minimize the introduction of domestic cattle genes, which appear to be carried by many bison, into herds where such genes are not currently present. The Wind Cave Bison could contribute to this process.

However, a special risk to the Wind Cave Bison Herd is the potential for the loss of their genetic purity. The herd is one of the few bison herds in the nation that does not seem to contain hybridized genes from domestic cattle. Unfortunately, the bison herd at Custer State Park

Custer State Park

Custer State Park is a state park and wildlife reserve in the Black Hills of southwestern South Dakota, USA. The park is South Dakota's largest and first state park, named after Lt...

, only a few miles away, does include herd members that have hybridized cattle genes. Furthermore, bison from Custer State Park have been found wandering within Wind Cave National Park. No evidence of cross breeding with these bison has yet been found, but many biologists feel that extra care should be taken with these animals in the future.

Unlike the Yellowstone Park Bison Herd, the Wind Cave Bison Herd is currently brucellosis

Brucellosis

Brucellosis, also called Bang's disease, Crimean fever, Gibraltar fever, Malta fever, Maltese fever, Mediterranean fever, rock fever, or undulant fever, is a highly contagious zoonosis caused by ingestion of unsterilized milk or meat from infected animals or close contact with their secretions...

-free. Though brucellosis doesn't seem to cause significant problems for bison populations, it is used as a reason for keeping bison inside the Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone National Park

and one of the reasons the state of Montana

Montana

Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...

allows hunting of the Yellowstone Bison if they leave the park. Since the Wind Cave Herd does not have brucellosis, there is less reason to confine them to the park and less reason to hunt them. Therefore, it should be easier to allow them to increase their population and their range, if other, nearby land areas become available for bison.

History

Ecology

Genetics

Future

See also