Texas Hopes to Cure 'Depressed' Bison With Ted Turner's Bulls

[papau]

bison herd in Texas's Caprock Canyons State Park suffers from "low breeding vigor?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A19979-2005Feb12.html?sub=AR

Texas Hopes to Cure 'Depressed' Bison With Ted Turner's Bulls

By Sylvia Moreno
The Washington Post
Sunday, February 13, 2005; Page A02

Everybody needs a little spice in his or her love life -- even a big, shaggy buffalo.

Isolated in the Texas Panhandle for 100 years, never a new lover in sight, the historic Caprock Canyons State Park bison herd is suffering from "inbreeding depression" that wildlife officials hope to cure by introducing some new studs to some old cows.
These aren't just any bulls, either. The three bison were donated to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department by media mogul Ted Turner. Turner owns the largest private bison herd in the world, with 32,000 head on 14 ranches in seven states. The three bulls are from Turner's ranch in northeastern New Mexico.

What the Texas bison are suffering from, said Danny Swepston, the state's parks and wildlife district leader in the Panhandle, is "low breeding vigor." The herd, once 250 strong, numbers only 56 after more than a century of inbreeding. The average age of the bison has increased by three years, to 15, and the number of calves has dropped in recent years. Only nine were born last year.

Turner's three bison will be paired with five or six cows as a way to increase genetic diversity without losing the DNA of the Texas bison. The results of the experiment won't be evident for seven or eight years. <snip>

[LiberalEsto]

1. If I had to live in Texas,

home state of * and Cheney, I'd be depressed too.
Maybe the Texas bison would perk up if they got a chance to visit a blue state like California.

[papau]

2. I bet a male decided the ladies needed a male!

:-)