It’s the ‘bifalo’: Bison-cow hybrid harming US groundwater

One of man’s last “creatures” beefcattalo or vacasonte, a hybrid of the buffalo (American bison) and the domestic cow. Advantages, combines the best of each genre: easy management of cows with large milk production and resistance to extreme climates and the quality of bison meat, low fat and cholesterol levels.

This breed, which has a very bull-like appearance, originated in the southwestern United States. Unlike what happens in other hybrids such as mule and beef can have fertile offspring.

Although the first crossbreeding took place in Arizona in 1906, “the creation of the breed dates back to the sixties. Alarm was raised when several cattle were abandoned to their fate on a farm, they escaped and began to multiply, due to the absence of predators and competitors.”

Right now, Nearly 600 two-headed animals roam free north of the Grand Canyon of the Colorado RiverAnd Its impact on the environment is huge..

They harm the region’s grassland ecosystem by consuming the region’s already limited water resources (They can drink up to 45 liters of water a day) and, because of their habit of rubbing against everything that was immovable, destroyed ancient stone ruins that had high spiritual value to the indigenous people.

Attacks on vehicles

Another serious problem recorded in and around Grand Canyon National Park is the discovery of wild beef specimens. very aggressiveespecially mothers with babies.

Actually already There were many attacks on vehicles. Although some sectors have suggested allowing beef hunting, it has not yet been decided how to solve the problem as animal rights activists and indigenous groups oppose this.

Beefalo has a “cousin” in Europe. Is that it? zubronA hybrid of a European bison and a cow. Its “creation” is older than that of beef, as the first known example dates back to 1847. In the fifties of the 20th century, some Polish scientists even proposed replacing domestic cattle with zubrons and initiated a phase of experiments.

In defense of modification, Zubron is more resistant to diseases and stronger than cows and bulls. It can have fertile offspring.

experiments Studies conducted until the eighties revealed that the results were not satisfactory enough. We fear it is mating with European bisonsubsequently threatened with extinction (although fewer than 50 specimens survived in 1927 and all were in zoos, the population later recovered and there are now about 8,500 individuals, mostly free), leading to the abandonment of large-scale experiments.

All this meant that for years only one herd survived in Poland’s Bialowieski National Park. Fifteen years ago experiments were restarted and the raising of zubrons in that country.

The Zubron is Europe’s heaviest land animal: males can exceed 1,200 kilograms and females can exceed 800 kilograms. Men are sterile, whereas females can mate with both bulls and bison. The males of these crosses are fertile.

Ligers, zebras and tigers

The latest news of animal hybridization came just a few weeks ago in Brazil, when crossbreeding between a female pampas fox and a domestic dog was documented for the first time following genetic analysis of an animal injured in a traffic accident in 2021.

However The list of hybrid animals is surprisingly longand contains real surprises for the layman.

Among dog hybrids naive dog (male coyote and domestic dog), goshawk (coyote and wolf) and doge (female coyote and domestic dog).

Descendants of lion and tiger are called ligerwhat about the lioness and the tiger? Well Tiger. But there are even hybrids of hybrids. liligreemix of lion and ligress.

There are even more hybrids among big cats. For example, it Pumapardo (male puma and female leopard), Tiger (tiger and leopard), helpful (male serval and female caracal) or caraval (male caracal x female serval)

We must also add other horse hybrids to the previously mentioned mules, burdéganos, zebrallos and grolars. zebralarno (zebra and donkey), cebroni (zebra and pony) or Kunga (donkey and male hemipus).

Sea hybrids? Room balfin (female bottlenose dolphin and male false killer whale) and narluga (beluga and narwhal). What is the hybrid of a camel and a female llama called? bed; He who has yaks and cows, dzoThe only known example of hybridization between the Asian elephant and the African elephant was named. mottledAnd we still need to add “chimeras,” such as those that arise from the artificial union of sheep and goat embryos.

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Contact address of the environmental department:krisclimatica@prensaiberica.es