BATAVIA (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- There was a special delivery at Fermilab in west suburban Batavia.
It's a baby bison! Fermilab welcomed its first baby bison of the season on Wednesday morning.
The physics laboratory said both mother and baby are doing well; and another 16 and 18 new calves are expected this spring, adding to the bison herd of 32: 30 females and two bulls. Fermilab said the bulls are changed periodically to maintain the herd’s health and genetic diversity.
Robert Wilson, Fermilab’s first director, established the bison herd in 1969 as a symbol of the history of the Midwestern prairie and the laboratory’s pioneering research at the frontiers of particle physics.
Fermilab said a herd of bison is a natural fit for a laboratory surrounded by nature. The laboratory's location hosts nearly 1,000 acres of reconstructed tallgrass prairie, as well as remnant oak savannas, marshes and forests.
Fermilab has confirmed through genetic testing that the laboratory’s herd shows no evidence of cattle gene mixing. Farmers during the early settlement era would breed bison with cattle to create more tame bison or hardier cattle. Fermilab’s bison are descendants of the few hundred wild bison that were never crossed with cattle.
To learn more about Fermilab’s bison herd, visit their website.
Fermilab, known for cutting-edge experiments, particle physics research—and an adorable herd of bison in Batavia, is closed to the general public at this time, so visits to view the bison are not currently possible.
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