Higgs bison

English

Alternative forms

  • Higgs Bison, Higgs-Bison

Etymology

Blend of Higgs boson +‎ bison. From being elusive, not being found after a long search, akin to how the Higgs boson proved time-consuming to find. Higgs was chosen due to the similarity between boson and bison, and its characteristic mysteriousness, due to not being found.[1][2]

Noun

Higgs bison (plural Higgs bison)

  1. (informal, paleontology, biology) The ancestor of the European bison (Bison bonasus), a species originating from the hybridization of the aurochs (Bos primigenius) and the steppe bison (Bison priscus).
    • 2016 October 19, Robby Berman, “Scientists Identify the Elusive Higgs Bison”, in Big Think‎[1], archived from the original on 5 October 2022:
      Scientists believe the Higgs bison were offspring of steppe bison and aurochs, an extinct breed of cattle.
    • 2016 October 19, Jason Daley, “Cave Paintings Help Unravel the Mystery of the ‘Higgs Bison’”, in Smithsonian Magazine‎[2]:
      But now, cave art and further DNA testing have finally unraveled the origins of Higgs Bison, which turns out to be a previously undescribed hybrid animal. The research appears in the journal Nature Communications.
    • [2023, Christopher J. Preston, Tenacious Beasts: Wildlife Recoveries That Change How We Think about Animals, MIT Press, →ISBN, page 86:
      The discovery of a missing hybrid ancestor—nicknamed the Higgs-Bison after the Higgs-Boson, a particle posited by theoretical physicists before it was proven to exist—confirmed this cross-breeding had occurred.]

References

  1. ^ Sarah Kaplan (18 October 2016) “Higgs bison mystery solved with help of ancient cave paintings”, in Washington Post
  2. ^ Rebecca Hersher (18 October 2016) Higgs Bison Is The Missing Link In European Bison Ancestral Tree, via NPR
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