Catalina Bison Aren't Purebred
US - Long thought to be purebred, the wild bison of Santa Catalina Island in fact have a little bit of cow in them, the first DNA analysis of the animals found. Nearly half of the 98 American bison shipped off the island in 2004 have cattle genes that were passed on through the mother. Catalina bison were believed to be purer than those on the mainland because they lived in isolation on the island since the 1920s.
24 September 2007
1 minute read
| A bison rests on a hilltop in this Feb.6, 2002 file photo, near Avalon, Calif., on Catalina Island. Bison were imported to the Island for the sake of a movie in which they never appeared. Long thought by some to be genetically pure, the wild bison of Santa Catalina Island in fact have traces of cow DNA, the first genetic analysis of the animals found |
"We were surprised because there's nothing cattle about them. They look like bison," said biologist Dennis Hedgecock of the University of Southern California, who co-authored the study.
The research done at USC and Texas A&M University appears in the latest issue of the journal Animal Genetics.
Scientists believe the crossbreeding occurred long before the bison were brought to Catalina Island. Hedgecock said the Catalina herd likely descended from animals on the famous Goodnight Ranch in Texas where cattle ranchers mated bison, also called buffalo, with cows to create a better beef animal. The ranch called the offspring of the union "cataloes."
Bison have roamed Catalina since 1924 when 14 head were brought in as extras for the silent film "The Vanishing American," though the movie did not include footage of the bison. The animals became a mainstay on the island and grew to a herd of 600 at one point.
Source: MiamiHerald
