Pittsburgh Zoo welcomes 4 bison to its International Conservation Center
The Pittsburgh Zoo is welcoming four bison to its International Conservation Center in Somerset.
The male and three females, who were born this summer and are approximately eight months old, arrived at the conservation center in December.
"This is the beginning of an exciting breeding and reintroduction program that will repatriate bison to indigenous territories across the United States," said International Conservation Center director Ayeshah Al-Humaidhi in a press release. "The herd will also provide training opportunities for animal care managers across zoological institutions and our Native American partners."
Most bison today aren't pure bison but are genetically mixed with cattle. The zoo says its four bison represent the purest stock in North America because genetic integrity plays an important role in bison conservation.
Bison are listed as near threatened and ecologically extinct, meaning they no longer play a critical role in shaping prairie biodiversity, the zoo says. Bison once numbered in the millions, but hunting and habitat loss dwindled the population down to a little over a thousand at the turn of the 20th century.
The bison come to the conservation center through a partnership with a nature reserve in Montana called American Prairie. Both the zoo and American Prairie are part of an Association of Zoos & Aquariums program that aims to recover bison and restore their native habitat by merging the resources of AZA facilities and Indigenous groups.
"We are thrilled to partner with the ICC and contribute to this important new program to help grow bison populations across North America," Scott Heidebrink, American Prairie's director of landscape stewardship, said in a news release. "We have spent the past 20 years restoring bison to their native prairie home and look forward to seeing even more of these iconic mammals on this historic landscape."
The zoo says the bison will serve as ambassadors for their species at the conservation center, helping visitors understand the role they play in the ecosystem and the importance of preserving their natural habitats.
