Blue Babe, Alaska’s bison, in all its splendor
Had a “strong pleistocenic aroma”. In 1984, scientists ate a stew made with a 50,000 bison. The taste was delicious, and none suffered any adverse effects of the meal.
Blue Babe lived twice. 50,000 years ago, this booty of the steppes (Bison old) He was wandering through the Alaska of the glacial era until a lion slaughtered him.
His second life began millennia later, when scientists discovered his body perfectly preserved At Alaska permafrost, where he had remained frozen since that ancestral day.
The bison was discovered by gold miners in 1979 and delivered to scientists as a rare find: The only known copy of a Pleistocenic bison recovered from Permafrost.
This did not prevent, however, that gastronomically curious investigators prepare a bistent neck steep from the Pleencenic era, says the.
The unusual dinner took place at Alaska, at the paleontologist’s house Dale Guthriewho had participated in the Blue Bab rescue of his icy tomb.
The initial analyzes of the collagen of the bisite seemed to indicate that the remains were about 36,000 years, but more recent investigations changed this Dating to 50,000 years.
The rapid transformation of Blue Babe into a block of pleistocenic ice after his death allowed his muscle tissue had been preserved in comparable to Salted beef, with fat and bone marrow included.
With so much available, the investigation team decided to follow the footsteps of Russian scientists – and introduce some of the findings in a night meal.
“To culminate and celebrate the taxidermia work of Eirik Granqvist and Bjorn Kurten with Blue Babe, We made them a bison stew dinner. A small part of the mummy’s neck was diced and slowly cooked in a pan with broth and vegetables, ”wrote Guthrie about the event.
“We ate Blue Babe to dinner. The meat was very healed but still a little rijo, and gave the stew a strong pleistocenic aromaBut no one there would have been sought to miss. ”
In 2019, Guthrie explained to why the guests opted for the stew. “Doing neck steak didn’t seem like a very good idea, but they know, the that we could do was put many vegetables and spicesand it wouldn’t be very bad. ”
There was evidence of lions predation On the neck of the Blue Babe, where tooth fragments had been found, but where scientists collected the meat to their stew, the fabric had frozen very quickly; so, even 50,000 years later, when meat defaults It was still quite fresh.
“When defrosting, An unmistakable aroma of beef was releasedpleasantly mixed with a Ternue Smell of Earth where it was found, cOm a touch of mushroom“Wrote Guthrie.“ About a dozen we met on 6 April 1984 to share the stew of Bison old.”
How about the adventure went?
“The taste was delicious and None of us have suffered any adverse effects From the meal, ”says Guthrie.
