What could make a baby bison white?
Advertisement
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Monthly Digital Subscription
$0 for the first 4 weeks*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*No charge for 4 weeks then price increases to the regular rate of $19.00 plus GST every four weeks. Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.
Monthly Digital Subscription
$4.75/week*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Billed as $19 plus GST every four weeks. Cancel any time.
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional
$1 for the first 4 weeks*
*Your next subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $16.99 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $23.99 plus GST every four weeks.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 13/06/2024 (550 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Photos of a white bison calf in Yellowstone National Park have generated excitement as well as questions: How does that happen?
A park visitor said she took the photographs in the park earlier this month, showing a fuzzy white youngster being nuzzled by its dark brown mother. Park officials said this week that they hadn’t yet spotted a white calf in the sprawling park in Wyoming and Montana, home to about 5,000 bison, also called American buffalo.
In the wild, there are two genetic variations that may result in unusually light-colored animals — leucism and albinism. In both conditions, the animal inherits two copies of the gene mutation — one from each parent, who usually appear normally colored themselves.
Leucistic animals lack some cells that otherwise produce melanin, a natural pigment that gives color to fur, eyes, feathers and skin. Their bodies may appear almost entirely white, or only white in patches, and they generally have normal or dark-colored eyes.
Albinism, which is more rare, results from the complete absence of melanin. Albino animals are nearly totally white, and they may have light pink or orange-colored eyes and reduced vision. Albino bison will lack dark colors in their eyes, noses and hooves, said James Derr, a geneticist at Texas A&M University.
The Yellowstone calf, with its black nose and eyes, is not albino, said Jim Matheson, executive director of the National Bison Association.
There’s a third possibility: A light-colored calf could be the result of a bison crossed with a white domestic cow. In that case, the calf may be light tan-colored, with brown eyes and a black or brown nose, said Derr.
Matheson said that it’s unclear how often white bison calves are born in the wild.
“We just don’t know how often it happens because we’ve never tracked this in history,” he said.
___
AP reporter Amy Beth Hanson in Helena, Montana, contributed to this report. ___
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.