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.

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 2022-10-05:

     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.]