Steppe bison

Steppe bison Temporal range: Irvingtonian to Holocene 1.8–0.009Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
"Blue Babe", a mummified specimen from Alaska
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Artiodactyla
Family:	Bovidae
Subfamily:	Bovinae
Genus:	Bison
Species:	†B. priscus
Binomial name
†Bison priscus Bojanus, 1827

The steppe bison^[1] or steppe wisent (Bison priscus) is an extinct species of bison found on steppes throughout Europe,^[2] Central Asia,^[3] Beringia, and North America^[4] during the Quaternary.

Evolution

Bison priscus skeleton

It is believed to have evolved somewhere in South Asia, which would have it appearing at roughly the same time and region as the aurochs with which its descendants are sometimes confused.

The steppe bison became extinct in the early Holocene, as it was replaced in Europe by the modern bison species and in America by a sequence of species (first Bison latifrons, and somewhat later, Bison antiquus) culminating in the modern American bison.^[5]

The steppe bison was over 2 m tall at the shoulder, and resembled the modern bison species, reaching 900 kg (1984 lb) in weight.^[6] The tips of the horns were a meter apart, the horns themselves being over half a meter long.

Discoveries

Cave painting in Altamira, Spain

Steppe bison appear in cave art, notably in the Cave of Altamira and Lascaux, and the carving Bison Licking Insect Bite, and have been found in naturally ice-preserved form.^[5][7][8]

Blue Babe is the mummy of a 36,000-year-old male steppe bison which was discovered north of Fairbanks, Alaska, in July 1979.^[9] The mummy was noticed by a gold miner who named the mummy Blue Babe - "Babe" for Paul Bunyan's mythical ox, and blue because of the coating of vivianite, a blue iron phosphate, that covered much of the specimen.^[10] Blue Babe is also frequently referenced when talking about scientists eating their own specimens: the research team that was preparing it for permanent display in the University of Alaska Museum removed a portion of the mummy's neck, stewed it, and dined on it to celebrate the accomplishment. ^[11]

In 2011, a 9,300-year-old mummy was found at Yukagir in Siberia.^[12]

References