Jump to content

Steppe bison

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Bison priscus)

Steppe bison
Temporal range: Middle Pleistocene to Holocene 0.65–0.003 Ma
↓
"Blue Babe", a mummified specimen from Alaska
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Bovidae
Subfamily: Bovinae
Genus: Bison
Species:
†B. priscus
Binomial name
†Bison priscus

The steppe bison (Bison priscus, also less commonly known as the steppe wisent and the primeval bison) is an extinct species of bison which lived from the Middle Pleistocene to the Holocene. During the Late Pleistocene, it was widely distributed across the mammoth steppe, ranging from Western Europe to eastern Beringia in North America. It is ancestral to all North American bison, including ultimately modern American bison.[2][3] Three chronological subspecies, Bison priscus priscus, Bison priscus mediator, and Bison priscus gigas, have been suggested.[4]

Evolution

[edit]

Steppe bison are divided into three chronologically successive subspecies, Bison priscus gigas from the early Middle Pleistocene of Siberia and Eastern Europe, Bison priscus priscus from the late Middle Pleistocene spanning from Western Europe to Siberia, and the Late Pleistocene Bison priscus mediator.[5]

The steppe bison first appeared during the mid Middle Pleistocene in eastern Eurasia,[2] subsequently dispersing westwards as far as Western Europe.[6] During the late Middle Pleistocene, around 195,000-135,000 years ago, the steppe bison migrated across the Bering land bridge into North America,[7] becoming ancestral to endemic North American bison species, including the largest known bison, the long-horned Bison latifrons, and the smaller Bison antiquus, the latter of which is thought to be ancestral to modern American bison.[3]

Description

[edit]
Skeleton of a steppe bison

Resembling the modern bison species, especially the American wood bison (Bison bison athabascae), adult bull steppe bison could likely reach over 2 m (6 ft 7 in) tall at the withers, and over 1,000 kg (2,200 lb) in weight.[8] The steppe bison is also anatomically similar to the European bison (Bison bonasus), to the point of difficulty distinguishing between the two when complete skeletons are unavailable.[9] Like living bison species, the steppe bison had a hump on its back immediately above its front legs.[8]

Skulls of steppe bison are distinguished from those living bison and other extinct Bison species by the shape of their horn cores (the bony inner part of the horn).[5] The horn cores of adult steppe bison generally project laterally (perpendicular to the sagittal plane) outwards and curve upwards towards their tips.[8] The size of steppe bison horn cores varied between subspecies, with the earliest subspecies Bison priscus gigas having horn cores that could spread to 2 m (6 ft 7 in) tip to tip, with this breadth progressively declining in later subspecies, down to 0.9–1.36 m (2 ft 11 in – 4 ft 6 in) in Bison priscus priscus, and to less than 0.9 m (2 ft 11 in) in the final subspecies Bison priscus mediator, corresponding with a body size decease between B. priscus gigas and B. priscus mediator,[5] though the average breadth of the tips of the horn cores is still on average larger than those of living bison even in Late Pleistocene steppe bison.[8]

The hair of the mummified "Yukagir bison" specimen is similar to living bison, but generally denser with the hair on the head varying from light brown to black depending on position, with the mane being almost black. The body hair of the "Yukagir bison" is generally shorter than the living American bison, consisting of light brown under hairs and black guard hairs.[8]

Palaeoecology

[edit]
Life restoration

Dental microwear analysis suggests the steppe bison was a mixed feeder, with its diet including a substantial amount of browse, rather than a strict grazer like the living American bison.[10] Like other bison species, steppe bison are thought to have lived in herds.[11] Likely predators of steppe bison include cave hyenas, whose dens have been found to contain steppe bison remains,[12] cave lions, whose bite marks have been found on the frozen mummified "Blue Babe" specimen from Alaska,[13] scimitar toothed cats (Homotherium) and possibly wolves.[14]

Relationship with humans

[edit]
Cave art of bison at Lascaux cave, France
"Bison licking insect bite", a well known French Paleolithic carving of a bison made of reindeer antler

Steppe bison are known to have been hunted by Neanderthals during the Middle Paleolithic in Europe.[15] Modern humans are known to have fed on steppe bison during the Last Glacial Period, with their processed remains having been found in Upper Palaeolithic archaeological sites.[16] Steppe bison were depicted by Paleolithic Europeans in cave art, with artists apparently distinguishing between steppe bison (depicted at sites like Lascaux cave, Chauvet Cave and Trois-Frères cave in France), and European bison, which co-occurred in Europe with steppe bison, with suggested depictions of steppe bison more common in early Upper Paleolithic cave art, prior to the Magdalenian, when suggested depictions of European bison became more common.[17] Paleolithic Europeans also depicted bison in a variety of other mediums, such as carvings, though it is difficult to distinguish whether they are depicting European or steppe bison.[18]

Extinction

[edit]

The steppe bison distribution contracted to the north after the end of the Last Glacial period, surviving into the mid Holocene before becoming extinct as part of the Late Quaternary extinction event.[8][19] A steppe bison skeleton was dated to 5,578-5327 calibrated years Before Present (c. 3450 BCE) in Alaska.[20] B. priscus remains in the northern Angara River in Asia were dated to 2550-2450 BCE,[9] and in the Oyat River in Leningrad Oblast, Russia to 1130-1060 BCE.[21] The causes for the extinction of the steppe bison and many other primarily megafaunal species remain hotly debated, but the selectivity for large animals suggests that the spread of modern humans played a substantial role.[22][23]

Discoveries

[edit]
Bison priscus skeleton at the Mammoth Museum in the Canton of Zürich, Switzerland

Blue Babe is the 36,000-year-old mummy of a male steppe bison which was discovered north of Fairbanks, Alaska, in July 1979.[24] The mummy was noticed by a gold miner who named the mummy Blue Babe – "Babe" for Paul Bunyan's mythical giant ox, permanently turned blue when he was buried to the horns in a blizzard (Blue Babe's own bluish cast was caused by a coating of vivianite, a blue iron phosphate covering much of the specimen).[25] Claw marks on the rear of the mummy and tooth punctures in the skin indicate that Blue Babe was killed by a cave lion. Blue Babe appears to have died during the fall or winter, when it was relatively cold. The carcass probably cooled rapidly and soon froze, which made it difficult for scavengers to eat.[26] 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.[27]

In early September 2007, near Tsiigehtchic, local resident Shane Van Loon discovered a carcass of a steppe bison which was radiocarbon dated to c. 13,650 cal BP.[28] This carcass appears to represent the first Pleistocene mummified soft tissue remains from the glaciated regions of northern Canada.[28]

In 2011, a 9,300-year-old mummy was found at Yukagir in Siberia.[29]

In 2016, a frozen tail was discovered in the north of the Republic of Sakha in Russia. The exact age was not clear, but tests showed it was not younger than 8,000 years old.[30][31] A team of Russian and South Korean scientists proposed extracting DNA from the specimen and cloning it in the future.[30][31]

The steppe wisent is known from Denisova Cave, famous for being the site where the first Denisovan remains were discovered.[32]

References

[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bison priscus.
Wikispecies has information related to Bison priscus.
  1. ^ Daszkiewicz, Piotr; Samojlik, Tomasz (2019). "Corrected date of the first description of aurochs Bos primigenius (Bojanus, 1827) and steppe bison Bison priscus (Bojanus, 1827)". Mammal Research. 64 (2): 299–300. doi:10.1007/s13364-018-0389-6. ISSN 2199-2401.
  2. ^ a b Sorbelli, Leonardo; Alba, David M.; Cherin, Marco; Moullé, Pierre-Élie; Brugal, Jean-Philip; Madurell-Malapeira, Joan (2021-06-01). "A review on Bison schoetensacki and its closest relatives through the early-Middle Pleistocene transition: Insights from the Vallparadís Section (NE Iberian Peninsula) and other European localities". Quaternary Science Reviews. 261: 106933. Bibcode:2021QSRv..26106933S. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2021.106933. ISSN 0277-3791. S2CID 235527116.
  3. ^ a b Zver, Lars; Toškan, Borut; Bužan, Elena (September 2021). "Phylogeny of Late Pleistocene and Holocene Bison species in Europe and North America". Quaternary International. 595: 30–38. Bibcode:2021QuInt.595...30Z. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2021.04.022.
  4. ^ Castaños, J.; Castaños, P.; Murelaga, X. (2016). "First Complete Skull of a Late Pleistocene Steppe Bison ( Bison priscus ) in the Iberian Peninsula". Ameghiniana. 53 (5): 543–551. doi:10.5710/AMGH.03.06.2016.2995. S2CID 132682791.
  5. ^ a b c Castaños, Jone; Castaños, Pedro; Murelaga, Xabier (2016-10). "First Complete Skull of a Late Pleistocene Steppe Bison ( Bison priscus ) in the Iberian Peninsula". Ameghiniana. 53 (5): 543–551. doi:10.5710/AMGH.03.06.2016.2995. ISSN 0002-7014. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. ^ Kahlke, Ralf-Dietrich; García, Nuria; Kostopoulos, Dimitris S.; Lacombat, Frédéric; Lister, Adrian M.; Mazza, Paul P. A.; Spassov, Nikolai; Titov, Vadim V. (2011-06-01). "Western Palaearctic palaeoenvironmental conditions during the Early and early Middle Pleistocene inferred from large mammal communities, and implications for hominin dispersal in Europe". Quaternary Science Reviews. Early Human Evolution in the Western Palaearctic: Ecological Scenarios. 30 (11): 1368–1395. Bibcode:2011QSRv...30.1368K. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2010.07.020. ISSN 0277-3791.
  7. ^ Froese, Duane; Stiller, Mathias; Heintzman, Peter D.; Reyes, Alberto V.; Zazula, Grant D.; Soares, André E. R.; Meyer, Matthias; Hall, Elizabeth; Jensen, Britta J. L.; Arnold, Lee J.; MacPhee, Ross D. E. (2017-03-28). "Fossil and genomic evidence constrains the timing of bison arrival in North America". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 114 (13): 3457–3462. Bibcode:2017PNAS..114.3457F. doi:10.1073/pnas.1620754114. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 5380047. PMID 28289222.
  8. ^ a b c d e f Boeskorov, Gennady G.; Potapova, Olga R.; Protopopov, Albert V.; Plotnikov, Valery V.; Agenbroad, Larry D.; Kirikov, Konstantin S.; Pavlov, Innokenty S.; Shchelchkova, Marina V.; Belolyubskii, Innocenty N.; Tomshin, Mikhail D.; Kowalczyk, Rafal; Davydov, Sergey P.; Kolesov, Stanislav D.; Tikhonov, Alexey N.; Van Der Plicht, Johannes (2016). "The Yukagir Bison: The exterior morphology of a complete frozen mummy of the extinct steppe bison, Bison priscus from the early Holocene of northern Yakutia, Russia". Quaternary International. 406: 94–110. Bibcode:2016QuInt.406...94B. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2015.11.084. S2CID 133244037.
  9. ^ a b Markova, A. K., Puzachenko, A. Y., Van Kolfschoten, T., Kosintsev, P. A., Kuznetsova, T. V., Tikhonov, A. N., ... & Kuitems, M. (2015). Changes in the Eurasian distribution of the musk ox (Ovibos moschatus) and the extinct bison (Bison priscus) during the last 50 ka BP. Quaternary International, 378, 99-110.
  10. ^ Hofman-Kamińska, Emilia; Merceron, Gildas; Bocherens, Hervé; Boeskorov, Gennady G.; Krotova, Oleksandra O.; Protopopov, Albert V.; Shpansky, Andrei V.; Kowalczyk, Rafał (14 August 2024). "Was the steppe bison a grazing beast in Pleistocene landscapes?". Royal Society Open Science. 11 (8). doi:10.1098/rsos.240317. ISSN 2054-5703. PMC 11321853. PMID 39144492. Retrieved 3 October 2024.
  11. ^ Grange, Thierry; Brugal, Jean-Philip; Flori, Laurence; Gautier, Mathieu; Uzunidis, Antigone; Geigl, Eva-Maria (2018-07-18). "The Evolution and Population Diversity of Bison in Pleistocene and Holocene Eurasia: Sex Matters". Diversity. 10 (3): 65. doi:10.3390/d10030065. ISSN 1424-2818.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unflagged free DOI (link)
  12. ^ Rivals, Florent; Baryshnikov, Gennady F.; Prilepskaya, Natalya E.; Belyaev, Ruslan I. (September 2022). "Diet and ecological niches of the Late Pleistocene hyenas Crocuta spelaea and C. ultima ussurica based on a study of tooth microwear". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 601: 111125. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2022.111125.
  13. ^ Stuart, Anthony J.; Lister, Adrian M. (August 2011). "Extinction chronology of the cave lion Panthera spelaea". Quaternary Science Reviews. 30 (17–18): 2329–2340. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2010.04.023. ISSN 0277-3791.
  14. ^ Bocherens, Hervé (June 2015). "Isotopic tracking of large carnivore palaeoecology in the mammoth steppe". Quaternary Science Reviews. 117: 42–71. Bibcode:2015QSRv..117...42B. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2015.03.018.
  15. ^ Hoffecker, John F. (2009), "Neanderthal and Modern Human Diet in Eastern Europe", Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology, Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands, pp. 87–98, ISBN 978-1-4020-9698-3, retrieved 2025-04-27
  16. ^ Ratajczak-Skrzatek, Urszula; Shpansky, Andrey V.; Stefaniak, Krzysztof; Orlińska, Dorota; Cyrek, Krzysztof; Sudoł-Procyk, Magdalena; Kovalchuk, Oleksandr (30 September 2022). "Upper Pleistocene remains of Bison priscus Bojanus, 1827 from Biśnik Cave (Middle Palaeolithic) and their significance for stratigraphy and palaeoecology". Quaternary International. 633: 170–182. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2022.01.001. Retrieved 15 February 2025 – via ResearchGate.
  17. ^ Soubrier, Julien; Gower, Graham; Chen, Kefei; Richards, Stephen M.; Llamas, Bastien; Mitchell, Kieren J.; Ho, Simon Y. W.; Kosintsev, Pavel; Lee, Michael S. Y.; Baryshnikov, Gennady; Bollongino, Ruth; Bover, Pere; Burger, Joachim; Chivall, David; Crégut-Bonnoure, Evelyne (2016-10-18). "Early cave art and ancient DNA record the origin of European bison". Nature Communications. 7 (1): 13158. doi:10.1038/ncomms13158. hdl:1885/146571. ISSN 2041-1723.
  18. ^ Fritz, Carole; Brugal, Jean-Philip; Fosse, Philippe; Tosello, Gilles (June 2022), Wright, Elizabeth; Ginja, Catarina (eds.), "Bison and Aurochs, Emblematic Figures of the Upper Paleolithic in Southwestern Europe", Cattle and People, Lockwood Press, pp. 184–202, doi:10.5913/archbio04.09, ISBN 978-1-948488-74-7, retrieved 2025-04-27
  19. ^ Zazula, Grant D.; Hall, Elizabeth; Hare, P. Gregory; Thomas, Christian; Mathewes, Rolf; La Farge, Catherine; Martel, André L.; Heintzman, Peter D.; Shapiro, Beth (November 2017). "A middle Holocene steppe bison and paleoenvironments from the Versleuce Meadows, Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada". Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences. 54 (11): 1138–1152. Bibcode:2017CaJES..54.1138Z. doi:10.1139/cjes-2017-0100. hdl:1807/78639. ISSN 0008-4077. S2CID 54951935.
  20. ^ Zazula, Grant D.; Hall, Elizabeth; Hare, P. Gregory; Thomas, Christian; Mathewes, Rolf; La Farge, Catherine; Martel, André L.; Heintzman, Peter D.; Shapiro, Beth (2017). "A middle Holocene steppe bison and paleoenvironments from the Versleuce Meadows, Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada" (PDF). Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences. 54 (11): 1138–1152. Bibcode:2017CaJES..54.1138Z. doi:10.1139/cjes-2017-0100. hdl:1807/78639. S2CID 54951935.
  21. ^ Plasteeva, N. A., Gasilin, V. V., Devjashin, M. M., & Kosintsev, P. A. (2020). Holocene Distribution and Extinction of Ungulates in Northern Eurasia. Biology Bulletin, 47(8), 981-995.
  22. ^ Lemoine, Rhys Taylor; Buitenwerf, Robert; Svenning, Jens-Christian (2023-12-01). "Megafauna extinctions in the late-Quaternary are linked to human range expansion, not climate change". Anthropocene. 44: 100403. Bibcode:2023Anthr..4400403L. doi:10.1016/j.ancene.2023.100403. ISSN 2213-3054.
  23. ^ Smith, Felisa A.; Elliott Smith, Rosemary E.; Lyons, S. Kathleen; Payne, Jonathan L.; Villaseñor, Amelia (2019-05-01). "The accelerating influence of humans on mammalian macroecological patterns over the late Quaternary". Quaternary Science Reviews. 211: 1–16. Bibcode:2019QSRv..211....1S. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.02.031. ISSN 0277-3791.
  24. ^ Deem, James M. "Blue Babe - the 36,000 year-old male bison"[permanent dead link] James M. Deem's Mummy Tombs. 1988-2012. Accessed 20 March 2012.
  25. ^ "Steppe Bison" Archived 2010-12-12 at the Wayback Machine – Yukon Beringia Interpretive Centre. Beringia.com. Retrieved on 2013-05-31.
  26. ^ "Blue Babe | Museum | Museum of the North". www.uaf.edu. Retrieved 2025-01-01.
  27. ^ Dale Guthrie, R (1989). Frozen Fauna of the Mammoth Steppe: The Story of Blue Babe. University of Chicago Press. p. 298. ISBN 9780226311234.
  28. ^ a b Zazula, Grant D.; MacKay, Glen; Andrews, Thomas D.; Shapiro, Beth; Letts, Brandon; Brock, Fiona (2009). "A late Pleistocene steppe bison (Bison priscus) partial carcass from Tsiigehtchic, Northwest Territories, Canada". Quaternary Science Reviews. 28 (25–26): 2734–2742. Bibcode:2009QSRv...28.2734Z. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2009.06.012. ISSN 0277-3791.
  29. ^ Palermo, Elizabeth (6 November 2014). "9,000-Year-Old Bison Mummy Found Frozen in Time". www.livescience.com. Retrieved 4 December 2014.
  30. ^ a b "The remains of an 8,000 year old lunch: an extinct steppe bison's tail". siberiantimes.com. Retrieved 2021-03-09.
  31. ^ a b "Cloning ancient extinct bison sounds like sci-fi, but scientists hope to succeed within years". International Business Times UK. 2016-12-02. Retrieved 2021-03-09.
  32. ^ Puzachenko, A.Yu.; Titov, V.V.; Kosintsev, P.A. (20 December 2021). "Evolution of the European regional large mammals assemblages in the end of the Middle Pleistocene – The first half of the Late Pleistocene (MIS 6–MIS 4)". Quaternary International. 605–606: 155–191. Bibcode:2021QuInt.605..155P. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2020.08.038. Retrieved 13 January 2024 – via Elsevier Science Direct.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Steppe_bison&oldid=1287839866"