# "Bison are the only mammals that don't get cancer." True?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bison-are-the-only-mammals-that-dont-get-cancer-true/165094
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [March 29, 2003, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bison-are-the-only-mammals-that-dont-get-cancer-true/165094 "2003-03-29T22:46:12Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@mouthbreather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mouthbreather)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2003, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bison-are-the-only-mammals-that-dont-get-cancer-true/165094/1 "2003-03-29T22:46:12Z")
OK, so I’m looking at [this](http://www.tedsmontanagrill.com/) website, which happens to be where we are going to eat tonight.
They make the claim:
“Bison are the only mammals that don’t get cancer.”
Is this true? I hit google for some help and found other sites that make this claim – however most of them also sell Bison and list other “facts” like [this one](http://tarboxbuffalo.com/meat.htm):
"When plains Indians’ main diet was bison, they never had cancer, heart disease or diabetes. " Which also sounds suspect.
[This](http://www.buffalobison.com/healthfacts.htm) site says (keep in mind they also are players in the bison trade):
“Grass-fed bison are higher in essential fatty acids with a good ratio of Omega-3s to Omega-6s and contain much more CLA. Grass-fed meats are one of the richest sources of CLA. Studies have shown that CLA slows the progress of some types of cancer and heart disease. CLA may reduce body fat and increase lean muscle mass. CLA may prevent or delay the onset of diabetes. Studies were done at the University of Bristol, Cornell, Penn State, and the University of Utah. Bison carry a cancer-preventative enzyme and researchers are now investigating the positive effects that Bison meat has on cancer prevention.”
which at least sounds like it may have something to it.
Any help? Thanks in advance.
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### Author:  [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2003, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bison-are-the-only-mammals-that-dont-get-cancer-true/165094/2 "2003-03-29T23:44:22Z")
Well, here’s a nice article from a veterinary journal talking about a bison with a case of squamous carcinoma, so I guess that sort of disproves that.
[http://www.afip.org/acvp/Vet\_Pathol/TOC37-4.htm](http://www.afip.org/acvp/Vet_Pathol/TOC37-4.htm)
> [@](#):
>
> Squamous Cell Carcinoma in an American Bison (Bison bison bison) (pp. 343-346)
>
> M. Z. Marder, D. W. Cummings, D. J. Zegarelli, K. Neuschaefer, and C. L. Pulse
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### Author:  [@elfbabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfbabe)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2003, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bison-are-the-only-mammals-that-dont-get-cancer-true/165094/3 "2003-03-29T23:48:54Z")
… Bison’s scientific name is bison bison bison?
Oh, _cool_.
I can’t decide whether or not that’s cooler than the fact that the lowland gorilla’s scientific name is gorilla gorilla gorilla.
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### Author:  [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2003, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bison-are-the-only-mammals-that-dont-get-cancer-true/165094/4 "2003-03-29T23:59:11Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by elfbabe \*
> \*\*… Bison’s scientific name is bison bison bison?
>
> Oh, _cool_.
>
> I can’t decide whether or not that’s cooler than the fact that the lowland gorilla’s scientific name is gorilla gorilla gorilla. \*\*
And WHY aren’t you studying??? 😃
Mom sez hi.
Dadgop
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### Author:  [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2003, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bison-are-the-only-mammals-that-dont-get-cancer-true/165094/5 "2003-03-30T00:08:34Z")
btw,
[Bison Bison Bison Bison](http://www.scz.org/animals/b/bison.html)
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### Author:  [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2003, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bison-are-the-only-mammals-that-dont-get-cancer-true/165094/6 "2003-03-30T03:29:32Z")
I can speak from first-hand experience of a cow that had a facial cancer: I’m the bloke who had to shoot her.
Bison? Just really big cows, eh?
Trinopus
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### Author:  [@Desmostylus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desmostylus)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2003, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bison-are-the-only-mammals-that-dont-get-cancer-true/165094/7 "2003-03-30T03:42:20Z")
Shh dear, don’t cause a fuss. I’ll have your bison. I love it. I’m having bison, bison, bison, bison, bison, bison, bison, baked beans, bison, bison, bison, and bison.
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### Author:  [@dauerbach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dauerbach)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2003, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bison-are-the-only-mammals-that-dont-get-cancer-true/165094/8 "2003-03-30T03:50:58Z")
Hmmm, wonder if they’re related to George Foreman?
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### Author:  [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2003, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bison-are-the-only-mammals-that-dont-get-cancer-true/165094/9 "2003-03-30T05:36:28Z")
**Qadgop**. In reading that journal article a bit farther, one finds that
> [@](#):
>
> This female bison developed an ulcerated lesion on the left flank, at the site of a brand, in the summer of her eighth year.
Can a case be made that the lesion might not have appeared if there was no branding?
There’s truly little Google info out there to refute the restaurant claim, although I’d love to see the journal articles upon which the bison supporters base their claims.
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### Author:  [@vasyachkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vasyachkin)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2003, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bison-are-the-only-mammals-that-dont-get-cancer-true/165094/10 "2003-03-30T06:43:07Z")
regardless, omega 3 to omega 6 ratio is something people should be focusing on much more in their diets. current public’s understanding of nutrition is lagging the science by about 20 years…
a typical diet has omega3 to to omega6 ratio of about 1/20. an ideal ratio is 1/1.
the source of the problem is corn and similar man-grown crops. corn oil is almost exclusively omega6 and animals fed with these crops have similarly elevated omega6 in their meat, and basically all livestock is that way now.
your body’s cell membranes incorporate omega3 and omega6 in the same ratio as they come in your diet. so you ARE what you eat, and what you eat is crap.
to get to the healthy omega3 ballance you need to supplement with Flax Seed Oil ( best omega3 source there is, but tastes like shit ) and basically eliminate corn and vegetable oil from your diet.
Olive oil is OK because while it is not a real source of omega3 it doesn’t pack much omega6 either.
fish that isn’t farmed is a good source of omega3. fish that is farmed is useless. likewise all meat is not at all the same depending on whether it is grass fed or grain fed. grass fed is what you want but you will not find it anywhere, and even if you do its still probably not grass fed in reality.
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### Author:  [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2003, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bison-are-the-only-mammals-that-dont-get-cancer-true/165094/11 "2003-03-30T06:56:52Z")
It can’t be true that the bison is the only animal that doesn’t get cancer. The shark-cartilage salesman told me it’s the shark that is the only animal that doesn’t get cancer. He wouldn’t lie about something that important, would he?
[edited for grammar]
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### Author:  [@j.c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j.c)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2003, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bison-are-the-only-mammals-that-dont-get-cancer-true/165094/12 "2003-03-30T07:16:38Z")
I think the general idea is that Sharks pre-date cancer. Or something like that.
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### Author:  [@Darwins\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwins_Finch)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2003, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bison-are-the-only-mammals-that-dont-get-cancer-true/165094/13 "2003-03-30T07:19:21Z")
> [@](#):
>
> _Originally posted by bibliophage \*
> \*\* He wouldn’t lie about something that important, would he?_\*
[Yes, I’m afraid he would.](http://www.ncf.carleton.ca/~bz050/sharksgetcancer.html)
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### Author:  [@phraser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phraser)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2003, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bison-are-the-only-mammals-that-dont-get-cancer-true/165094/14 "2003-03-30T08:11:44Z")
AFAIK, both sharks and bison get cancer. Anything with genes is vulnerable to some kind of cancerous change.
I have seen a bison with an eye tumor in a zoo (sorry, no cite, it wasn’t a published case).
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### Author:  [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2003, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bison-are-the-only-mammals-that-dont-get-cancer-true/165094/15 "2003-03-30T09:00:33Z")
> [@](#):
>
> _Originally posted by mouthbreather \*
> \*\*
> "When plains Indians’ main diet was bison, they never had cancer, heart disease or diabetes. "_\*
Have you ever seen a bald headed Eskimo? Of course not! That’s because they eat whale blubber! 😃
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### Author:  [@Shade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shade)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2003, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bison-are-the-only-mammals-that-dont-get-cancer-true/165094/16 "2003-03-30T14:31:37Z")
Looking at the other cstatements I get the impression that they are trying to _imply_ that _Eating Bison is healthy because they don’t get cancer._
Can I assume _that_ is BS?
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### Author:  [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2003, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bison-are-the-only-mammals-that-dont-get-cancer-true/165094/17 "2003-03-30T14:54:06Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Desmostylus \*
> \*\*Shh dear, don’t cause a fuss. I’ll have your bison. I love it. I’m having bison, bison, bison, bison, bison, bison, bison, baked beans, bison, bison, bison, and bison. \*\*
Baked beans are off.
Seriously, why would anything multicellular be immune from cancer?
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### Author:  [@Flying\_Monk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flying_Monk)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2003, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bison-are-the-only-mammals-that-dont-get-cancer-true/165094/18 "2003-03-30T15:02:39Z")
I’ve heard it about sharks before, from a born-again Christian. He also told me that sharks were “evolutionally perfect”, in that they couldn’t be improved any more. (He doesn’t believe in evolution, of course, so the fact that he believes this is illuminating, to say the least) Funny how much pseudoscience I’ve heard from those guys. It’s like a Christian hobby.
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### Author:  [@mouthbreather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mouthbreather)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2003, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bison-are-the-only-mammals-that-dont-get-cancer-true/165094/19 "2003-03-30T15:12:08Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Shade \*
> \*\*Looking at the other cstatements I get the impression that they are trying to _imply_ that _Eating Bison is healthy because they don’t get cancer._
>
> Can I assume _that_ is BS? \*\*
Eating Bison is healthy (compared to other meats)…The cancer thing just set off my BS radar.
BS = Bison Shit, of course.
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### Author:  [@Doomtrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doomtrain)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2003, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bison-are-the-only-mammals-that-dont-get-cancer-true/165094/20 "2003-03-30T18:07:56Z")
I think you mean Bison Bison Bison Shit.
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