ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½

“This new calf represents a significant milestone for our continued conservation efforts with this iconic North American species,” the zoo Tuesday.

Zoologists said the calf is strong, alert, in good health, bonding well with its mother and growing fast, which are all important when raising a wild animal in human care. 

The zoo has been involved in wood bison conservation since 1977 and partnered with the University of Saskatchewan and Parks Canada in 2007. It is important the calf is female, since female bison become pregnant and give birth and a herd can be rebuilt more efficiently if the population is skewed toward females temporarily, the release said.

“We continue to be home to one of a few reproductive physiology labs in North America that participate in biobanking wildlife species,” the release reads. “This is the process of freezing living cells such as sperm and embryos, for the purpose of preserving genetic diversity for the future. Once frozen, these living cells are then held in Canada’s Wildlife Cryobank at your ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ Zoo.”

Wood bison could previously be found across the boreal forests of northwestern Canada and Alaska but changes to their habitat use have created small, disconnected herds in British Columbia, Alberta, the Northwest Territories and Yukon. The species’ status has been downgraded from “endangered” to “threatened” since 1988 but diseases, such as tuberculosis and brucellosis, still threaten the wild population.

In 2016, three wood bison were unexpectedly found dead by ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ Zoo staff, including one just a year and a half old and applauded as the zoo’s first second-generation artificially inseminated bison.

With files from Sammy Hudes