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If you walk along the Henry Mountains of Southern Utah, you find a herd of genetically pure bison.

It is genetically pure, and also free of the disease brucellosis. The bison co-exists with cattle and is free-ranging on public land. It is also legally hunted, according to HNGN.

"It's a large credit to the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, the Bureau of Land Management, and the local Henry Mountains Grazing Association. Over the years, they worked together to conserve this resource," said Johan du Toit, a professor of Ecology and Large Mammal Conservation at Utah State University, and a scientist from USU was part of the research team, according to White Wolf Pack.

The team of scientists used some tissue samples from the herd here to ensure that the animals are indeed of pure breed. These bison did not interbred with other species, which they are known to commonly do with cattle.

"Now, we only have 500,000 bison but, of those, only 20,000 are what we would consider to be wild bison. Now we have a third herd of free-ranging bison that is disease-free and doesn't show any introgression of cattle genes. That actually makes the Henry Mountains bison, in a way, almost even more valuable than the herd in Yellowstone. Because of that, they can represent a really important source for potential reintroduction projects that are trying to restore bison to a large portion of their native range," said Dustin Ranglack, lead author of the study, according to Utah Public Radio website.

After this discovery, scientists feel that the future of conservation projects can be protected.