31,000 Bison Are Left in America. Scientists Have an Epic Plan to Save Them from Extinction.

• The American Bison is an icon of North America, but after dangerously dwindling to only 1,000 or so animals at the turn of the 20th century, the majestic beast is still struggling to return to its former glory.
• According to a new report by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the Texas-based biotech company Colossal is teaming up with indigenous communities to help return the animal back to its native range.
• Pure bison DNA is hard to come by, and what does exist is likely infected with the disease Brucellosis, so the hope is that Colossal can use its genetic know-how to circumvent the disease and eventually introduce healthy populations throughout the Great Plains.

The American Bison, also known as the buffalo, is an absolute icon of North America, with its native range stretching across grasslands in Canada, U.S., and Mexico. In fact, the beasts are so important, Ken Burns made an entire documentary about them last year.

So, as a hat-tip to America’s most noted documentarian: a brief history lesson. Before the arrival of Europeans to the continent in the 17th century, an estimated 60 million buffalo stampeded across the continent. However, a combination of overhunting, the introduction of horses, severe droughts, disastrous U.S. military policies, and westward expansion severely curtailed the numbers of buffalo throughout the Great Plains. By the 1890s, only around 1,000 of them remained.

Thankfully, the 20^th century saw a change in fortune for these fascinating beasts. In 1905, the American Bison Society formed to support the animals’ recovery, and national preserves and parks around the U.S. established protections for wild herds. While an estimated 360,000 bison reside in private hands as livestock, wild buffalo account for some 31,000 animals today, according to the National Park Service (NPS).

Now, the preservation of the majestic animal may be entering a new phase. Colossal—a Texas-based biotech company best known for its mission to “de-extinct” the wooly mammoth—is seeking partnership with indigenous communities to help restore wild bison populations.

“It’s important for us to understand the cultural, spiritual and ecological knowledge of the people that were here first and who have been stewards of the land and the environment,” Colossal CEO Ben Lamm told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “We’ve learned a lot in a short period of time (from Indigenous peoples) about the importance of many species.”

While buffalo are regarded primarily as a prey species—whether for the wolves that hunted them or the native tribes that wove them into the tapestry of their cultures and diets—the creatures offer benefits far beyond being a bulky food source. Buffalo wallows create unique habitat, and even form watering holes after rains sweep across the plains. A new study from May of 2024 even showed that European Bison played a vital role in carbon sequestration, as their stampeding hooves compacted soil, which locks away more carbon.

Because the population of American buffalo reached such dismally low numbers, many of today’s buffalo have been bred with cattle. However, a few pure bison samples remain, especially those that have been protected at places like Yellowstone National Park for more than a century. Unfortunately, many of these buffalo are infected with Brucellosis, a disease contracted from grazing cattle that were allowed to graze in Yellowstone in the early 20^th century.

Jason Baldes, executive director of the Wind River Tribal Buffalo Initiative and vice president of the board of directors for the Inter-Tribal Buffalo Council, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that Colossal’s expertise in genetics could help mitigate this disease and reintroduce healthy bison populations throughout their original range.

It’s unknown exactly when this partnership will begin its work to restore the American bison to its rightful place throughout the Great Plains of North America, but whenever that work starts, it will begin a much-needed next chapter in the decades-long journey to save an American legend.