Monarto Safari Park Monarto Safari Park News 2025

[Wisp O' Mist]

A handful of AZA holders have the true American bison, such as Bronx Zoo.

Not the case. All bison have cattle DNA.

 

[Wisp O' Mist]

But the original founders to the regional population were gift pairs from the Canadian government to various Australian zoos in the early 1900s

The Canadian government's gift bison for Australia were consistently sourced from the now defunct Buffalo National Park. Which conducted hybridization experiments with the bison - Not only with cattle, but yak as well!

The experiments were widely regarded as a failure. But instead of destroying the resulting hybrids, they were simply turned loose and allowed to join the park's main bison herd. The result? Cattle genes entering the herd on a large scale.

Rather a shame, considering that the Buffalo National Park herd itself was sourced from the only private owner who hadn't conducted his own hybridization experiments.

 

[Wisp O' Mist]

same with the NZ stock, which had descendants later transfer across to Australia to bolster the genetics over here.

The New Zealand gift bison were sourced from Elk Island National Park. Which sourced their bison from the previously mentioned Buffalo National Park. So those bison would've already had cattle DNA prior to their importation as well.

 

[Wisp O' Mist]

in that case as long there were no other imports I would say they are pure.

They are not purebred, no. The history of the herd they were sourced from is entirely known.

 

[Wisp O' Mist]

I’ve heard many people question the purity of New Zealand’s bison (held at Hamilton and Orana) due to the exchanges with farms over the decades. I imagine it would be the same for Australian zoos.

It's a bit of a moot point nowadays, given that no living bison is without cattle DNA.

 

[ZCChip]

They are not purebred, no. The history of the herd they were sourced from is entirely known.

Right. Bronx zoo has maintained that they keep a pure herd for several years. I think they did the dna testing and work collaboratively with some other places. They do embryo transfers.

 

[Wisp O' Mist]

Right. Bronx zoo has maintained that they keep a pure herd for several years. I think they did the dna testing and work collaboratively with some other places. They do embryo transfers.

That doesn't mean that their herd is actually purebred, though. Hell, I haven't even seen them make that claim post-2022.