Bison Poop Reveals Two Distinct U.S. Populations [ Holy Feces!!! ]

LiveScience ^ | January 30, 2007 | Jeanna Bryner

[SunkenCiv]

Bison poop has more to offer than a field-clearing smell. Genetic analysis of the feces has revealed there are two breeding populations of bison in Yellowstone National Park, according to a new study. The discovery has implications for how to manage the roughly 4,000 bison (called Bison bison by scientists), which were previously considered one giant breeding population within the park's boundaries... The poop itself doesn’t contain the DNA. When a bison chows down, the roughage scoots through the digestive tract before a less-recognizable chunk of it passes out of the gut. During the descent, cells lining the gut slough off and hitch a ride with the feces... Gardipee found stark differences in the maternal DNA. In Hayden Valley, where 2,000 bison reside, and in Grand Teton, she found only one maternal line called haplotype 6. In Lamar Valley and Mirror Plateau, the more than 900 bison showed a different mix of mitochondrial DNA. "This shows there is potentially a minimum of two different breeding groups in Yellowstone," Gardipee said.

[SunkenCiv]

[SunkenCiv]

Scientists: Bison in Illinois earlier (aren't you relieved?)
South Carolina homepage (thestate.com) | Tue, Aug. 30, 2005 | Associated Press
Posted on 09/03/2005 10:17:31 AM EDT by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1476377/posts

[SunkenCiv]

What an offal way to research.

To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. Thanks.

Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on or off the
"Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list or GGG weekly digest
-- Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)

[blam]

Wasn't it bears that something similar was announced recently?

[Aussie Dasher]

No sh*t?

[SunkenCiv]

"What's brown and sounds like a bell?"

[SunkenCiv]

Okay, I'll never forgive you for making me type "bear feces" into the Google search. ;') Hmm, a quick superficial scan of the results yielded nothing...

Google

[Aussie Dasher]

OK, tell me...

[SunkenCiv]

---

---

---

---

---

---

[SunkenCiv]

"Dung!"

[Aussie Dasher]

OH DEAR...

[SunkenCiv]

http://www.dws.org/sousa/mp2/python.mp2

[dsc]

I wonder if they can breed a strain of scientist that calls the bloody things "buffalo."

The word "bison" just makes me want to give somebody a wedgie.

[ZULU]

Bison is a more accurate term than "buffalo" as Buffalo are really an old world wild ox - like Cape Buffalo in Africa or Water Buffalo in Asia.

When I saw the title I thought they had identified a remnant population of Woods Bison. I think there were two groups of these - one found in northern Canada and another - presumably extinct which was found as far east as the Delaware River Valley, upstate New York and the southern Appalachians

[AndyJackson]

except bison are related to the gnu, not the african buffalo.

[ASA Vet]

[CholeraJoe]

That's good to know. After all, no gnus is good gnus.

[Varda]

I was taught that the Woods Bison never really existed. That the legends surounding it's existance were never based on an actual wild population.

[JewishRighter]

Can someone help out here? Is Bison poop the only way to collect DNA? Can't they simply trim a few hairs from one or from just about any body tissues from a dead one?

Sounds weird.

[ZULU]

THATS GNUS TO ME!!!

Sorry. I couldn' help it.