Re: Elephant/Mammoth NA
From: Daryl Krupa (icycalmca_at_yahoo.com)
Date: 02/26/05
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Date: 26 Feb 2005 00:49:19 -0800
zolota wrote:
> <icycalmca@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:1109040739.050986.189140@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...
> >
> > zolota wrote:
> > <snip>
> >> But a previously unknown herd of wood buffalo
> >> (we have two surviving
> >> species of at least three at European contact) was
> >> discovered in Alberta
> >> in the 1960's.
> >
> > You mean 2 subspecies, "rediscovered", and 1957:
>
> My bad, subspecies would be correct. But if the definition of a
species is
> the production of fertile offspring then how can European cattle and
NA
> bison be considered anything other than the same species?
Well, they were reproductively isolated until relatively
recently, and their behaviour would tend to keep them as
separate populations, but yes, beefalo and cattalo are true
fertile hybrids, but whether or not they would stabilise as
a seaprate population if left to their own devices is debateable:
http://www.beefalobeef.com/hybrids.htm
I hadn't thought of them that way. Thanx.
> My understanding was that there were the Plains, Woods, and Eastern
buffalo
> at the time of contact. The later went extinct in about 1770 when the
last
> herd was slaughtered somewhere in Pennsylvania.
Right. Forgot about that one. Black, migrated between
Great Lakes and Georgia.
I've seen 1825 for the last sighting of that
_Bison bison pennsylvanicus_, in West Virginia.
There was supposed to have been another subspecies,
_Bison bison oreganus_, which might be the same as the pale
Colorado buffalo.
_B .b. oreganus_ might have been the same as the small, agile
"mountain buffalo", but I don't think that there's any way of
figuring that out.
> As for the 1957 date, it thought it was 1962
>
> You did mention that locals would have known of this Northern herd.
My
> understanding is that it came as a complete surprise for the folks
living
> in the area but that it nevertheless proved to be a completely
seperate hert
> for reporting purposes.
I dunno about the "surprise" part; I've seen them in the
Mackenzie Reserve, and they really stand out. In the original
home of the herd (I've not been there, but I have been within 50 km),
they'd be harder to see, but their game trails and their fewmets
are quite different from those made by deer,
if no other clues for their presence were available.
In the winter trapping season, they'd be kinda obvious,
I still think.
Guess we'll never know; those who would know are mostly deceased by
now.
-
Daryl Krupa
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