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Ancient Bison
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Ancient Bison | ||||||||||||||
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 Ancient Bison
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| Bison antiquus Leidy, 1852 |
The ancient bison, Bison antiquus, was the most common large herbivore of the North American continent for over ten thousand years, and is a direct ancestor of the living American bison.
During the Pleistocene Ice Age, steppe wisent (Bison priscus), migrated from Siberia into Alaska. This species then developed into the long-horned bison (Bison latifrons) which lived in North America for 3 million years. About 22,000 years ago, the long-horned bison gave way[clarify] to the ancient bison. Ancient bison were abundant from 18,000 years ago until about 10,000 years ago, when they became extinct[clarify] along with most of the Pleistocene megafauna. Ancient bison is the most commonly recovered herbivore from the La Brea tar pits.
The ancient bison was taller, had larger bones and horns and was 15-25% larger overall than modern bison. From tip to tip, the horns of Bison antiquus measured approximately 3 feet (nearly one meter).
- University of Texas
- Montana State University - Bozeman
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