A 120,000-year-old hybrid of cattle and bison species has been revealed by researchers through DNA analysis. The cross-breed is believed to have been the ancestor of the European bison once hunted in the wild to extinction. Its name Higgs Bison refers to the subatomic particle, Higgs Boson, suspected to exist since the 1960s and confirmed in 2012. To verify the recent discovery, paleontologists and an international team of bison conservation researchers studied ancient DNA taken from radiocarbon-dated bones in teeth from caves across Europe. Ice Age cave artists documented detailed drawings of the previously unknown hybrid species—just take a look below!
A reproduction of a putative wisent painted in the Marsoulas cave (Haute-Garonne, France) during the the Magdalenian period. Photo courtesy of www.phys.org and Carole Fritz
The new species Higgs Bison is said to be the ancestor of the European bison. Photo courtesy of cbc.ca
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