Show BISON S FAMILY TREE first comprehensive study of the great plains bison s lineage is being made by university of nebraska state museum from its collection of buffalo skeletal remains the large skull and horns foreground are years old and belong to the first type of bison to roam th the e great plains area the skull at left is 50 years old while the one at right is a 1000 1 year old buffalo nearly the same as the present type seen in parks and zoos dr C B schultz director of the museum Is on the left with VV D frankforter assistant curator of paleontology at right BY THE HORNS museum traces family tree of shaggy haired plains bison features LINCOL LINCOLN fl NEB the family tree of the great plains bison is being given its first geologically scientific appraisal by the university of nebraska state museum research completed in the past eight years reveals that ancestors of the shaggy haired creatures which in the centhay numbered millions and drew hunters from 0 over the world to the plains of kan sas and nebraska first came to north america about years ago that was when the second of the three big glaciers ot of the ice age was retreating from the northern great plains dr C B schultz museum diorec tor and W D frankforter assist ant curator of paleontology ot of the museum report that their studies thus far indicate two unusual ten dacies in evolution of the bison first the great granddaddy of 0 them all who came to this con from asia was character iced mainly by huge horns which averaged 80 inches from tip to tip but the body of this creature known scie scientifically as super bison was less than a foot taller and a foot longer than the present buffalo sue beeding generations showed only one significant change size of the horns they steadily shrank to today s average of 22 inches from tip to tip the body remained nearly the same second the bison unlike other prehistoric animals found in north america such as ele eie chants rhinos horses and cam els first appeared on our con as a large animal and decreased in size the university of nebraska fists also believe on the basis of present studies that the bison lation has had its ups and downs the first bison they say appa apparently bently was relatively few in numbers since only a few scattered skeletal re mains have been found thus far in kansas and nebraska but they increased in numbers rapidly as the climate began warm ing up and more food was made available to the growing herds but about 20 years ago a human civilization apparently a race of hunters migrated from asia to this continent and the numbers of bison were greatly reduced these tribes it however 0 w e v e r suddenly disappeared from the great plains for reasons which are still a mystery to fists after their d arance however bison herds staged a come comeback back the herds gained steadily in size even after appearance of the early indians in the great plains region but with the coming of the white man the bison all but disappeared from the continent the research work now under way at university of nebraska is expected to take at least five more years to complete |