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Members of the Eastern Shoshone Tribe are marking the return of buffalo to their reservation in central Wyoming more than a century after the animals were wiped out.
The tribe is holding a ceremony Thursday marking the release of 10 genetically pure buffalo from a federal refuge in Iowa. The National Wildlife Federation and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have worked on the project.
Buffalo provided food and shelter to the Eastern Shoshone and other Indian tribes before the vast herds of the animals were slaughtered in the late 1800s.
Jason Baldes leads the buffalo restoration work for the Eastern Shoshone. He says establishing a large buffalo herd on the reservation will allow children there to experience how their ancestors traditionally used the animals and share in their spiritual importance.
(Score: 3, Informative) by JoeMerchant on Friday November 04 2016, @12:50PM
You overestimate our mastery of genetic engineering.
Buffalo are large (slow growing, expensive) animals - genetic splicing as you describe is a hugely trial and error endeavor today. Attempting to restore sequences from long-dead bones and introduce them into a herd for benefit would require growing large numbers of "failed trial" animals and culling them from the herd, at least by sterilization if not killing outright. It would not be a popular project, would be fabulously expensive, and would require many generations to verify the results.
Fruit flies, yes. Mice, maybe. Buffalo = mice x 1,000,000 in terms of cost.
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