Mountain bison, Wood buffalo, Mountain buffalo
The wood bison (Bison bison athabascae ) or mountain bison (often called the wood buffalo or mountain buffalo), is a distinct northern subspecies or ecotype of the American bison. Its original range included much of the boreal forest regions of Alaska, Yukon, western Northwest Territories, northeastern British Columbia, northern Alberta, and northwestern Saskatchewan.
The term "buffalo" is considered to be a misnomer for this animal, as it is only distantly related to either of the two "true buffalo", the Asian water buffalo and the African buffalo. However, "bison" is a Greek word meaning ox-like an animal, while "buffalo" originated with the French fur trappers who called these massive beasts bœufs, meaning ox or bullock—so both names, "bison" and "buffalo", have a similar meaning. Though the name "bison" might be considered to be more scientifically correct, the name "buffalo" is also considered correct and is listed in many dictionaries as an acceptable name for American buffalo or bison. In reference to this animal, the term "buffalo" dates to 1635 in North American usage when the term was first recorded for the American mammal. It thus has a much longer history than the term "bison", which was first recorded in 1774.
Wood bison are herbivorous grazers that feed primarily on grasses, sedges, and forbs. Due to frequent and heavy snowfall in their native habitat, food availability fluctuates throughout the year, leading to a diverse and varied diet. Deep snow often creates a barrier between the bison and their food source, so they must use their large heads and neck muscles to dig for edible morsels. After the temperature rises and the snow melts, wood bison also feed on silverberry and willow leaves in the summer.
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DiurnalDiurnal animals are active during the daytime, with a period of sleeping or other inactivity at night. The timing of activity by an animal depends ...
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HerbivoreA herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically adapted to eating plant material, for example, foliage, for the main component of its die...
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GraminivoreIn zoology, a graminivore (not to be confused with a granivore) is an herbivorous animal that feeds primarily on grass. Graminivory is a form of g...
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ViviparousAmong animals, viviparity is the development of the embryo inside the body of the parent. The term 'viviparity' and its adjective form 'viviparous'...
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PrecocialPrecocial species are those in which the young are relatively mature and mobile from the moment of birth or hatching. Precocial species are normall...
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TerrestrialTerrestrial animals are animals that live predominantly or entirely on land (e.g., cats, ants, snails), as compared with aquatic animals, which liv...
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CursorialA cursorial organism is one that is adapted specifically to run. An animal can be considered cursorial if it has the ability to run fast (e.g. chee...
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GrazingGrazing is a method of feeding in which a herbivore feeds on plants such as grasses, or other multicellular organisms such as algae. In agriculture...
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NomadicNomadic animals regularly move to and from the same areas within a well-defined range. Most animals travel in groups in search of better territorie...
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CongregatoryCongregatory animals tend to gather in large numbers in specific areas as breeding colonies, for feeding, or for resting.
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PolygynyPolygyny is a mating system in which one male lives and mates with multiple females but each female only mates with a single male.
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DangerousDangerous animals demonstrate aggression and a propensity to attack or harass people or other animals without provocation.
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HerdingA herd is a social grouping of certain animals of the same species, either wild or domestic. The form of collective animal behavior associated with...
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Dominance hierarchyA dominance hierarchy (formerly and colloquially called a pecking order) is a type of social hierarchy that arises when members of animal social gr...
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MigratingAnimal migration is the relatively long-distance movement of individual animals, usually on a seasonal basis. It is the most common form of migrati...
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starts withThe wood bison is potentially more primitive in phenotype than the plains bison (Bison bison bison ), while the latter probably evolved from a mixing of Bison occidentalis and Bison antiquus. It is unclear whether today's animals preserve the original phenotypes existing prior to the 1920s. The wood bison is larger and heavier than the plains bison. Despite a limited number of samples, large males have been recorded to reach 3.35 m (11.0 ft) in body length with 95 cm (3.12 ft) tails, 201 cm (6.59 ft) tall at withers, and 1,179 kg (2,600 lb) in weight, making it morphologically more similar to at least one of the chronological subspecies of ancestral steppe bisons (Bison priscus sp.) and Bison occidentalis. It is among the largest extant bovids and is the heaviest and longest terrestrial animal in North America and Siberia. The peak of the wood bison's shoulder hump sits anterior to the forelegs, while the plains bison's shoulder hump is located directly above the forelegs. Wood bison also have larger horn cores, darker and woollier hair and less hair on their forelegs, with smaller and more pointed beards. Plains bison are capable of running faster, reaching up to 65 km/h (40 mph), and longer than bison living in the forests and mountains.
American bison is diurnal, being active all day long. They are usually relatively passive during the day, becoming particularly active at dusk and dawn. They spend a lot of time cleaning the fur or grooming: they rub their head, sides, and necks against trunks of trees. Bison are able to be constantly on the move, passing long distances as long as there is food. Cows, female bison, are leaders of family groups while males stay separate, creating small groups or living solitarily. As the mating season comes, males join female groups. Bison like rolling, weltering, and rubbing against the ground. Wallows are recesses - dust bowls with no vegetation, having circular form, formed as a result of bison’s wallowing on the ground.
Bison are herbivores (graminivores) and, more specifically, grazers, chewing grass all year round. However, in absence of grass, they eat other greenery found in the area such as sagebrush. The presence of water is another important component of their life: they can’t last long without a source of water.
Wood bison reach sexual maturity at age 2. Females will often rear their first calf by age 3 and may produce a single additional offspring every 1–2 years. Mating season typically runs from July to September, with most activity occurring during August as evidenced by the fact most calves are born in May following a 9-month gestation period. Bison young are precocial, with many mastering the skills required to evade predators, such as running and kicking, on the same day they are born.
Reproduction is limited by the amount of habitat available. Bison tend to disperse when there is not enough food to sustain a population within the current range, which causes a decrease in population density, indirectly lowering the rate at which mating occurs. Older bulls will typically have smaller ranges than female herds, because they live either solitarily or in smaller herds and therefore exert less pressure on the local forage. Loss of functional habitat is a major ecological concern for this species due to the density-dependent nature of reproduction.
As with other bison, the wood bison's population was devastated by hunting, loss of habitat, and other factors. By the early 20th century, they were regarded as extremely rare.
Currently, about 7,000 wood bison remain in wildernesses within the Northwest Territories, the Yukon, British Columbia, Alberta, and Manitoba.
Bison was an important component of the flatlands ecosystem in its habitat. When grazing, the animal thrusts its hooves into the soil, thus fertilizing it. Plains, grazed by bison, were inhabited by prairie dogs, protecting them against predators due to being shorter and thus providing a better view of the surrounding area. Corpses of bison were a delicacy for scavengers while their meat was the main source of food for the local population of wolves and humans. Bison fertilized the plains of the habitat thus becoming predecessors of farmers.
The herd currently has a total population around 2,500, largely as a result of conservation efforts by Canadian government agencies. In 1988, the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada changed the subspecies' conservation status from "endangered" to "threatened," where it remains.
On June 17, 2008, 53 wood bison were transferred from Alberta's Elk Island National Park to the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center in Anchorage, Alaska. There they were to be held in quarantine for two years and then reintroduced to their native habitat in the Minto Flats area near Fairbanks, but this plan was placed on hold. In May 2014, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service published a final rule allowing the reintroduction of a "non-essential experimental" population of wood bison into three areas of Alaska. As a result, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game introduced the first herd of 100 animals to the Innoko River area in western Alaska in spring 2015.
Social animals are those animals that interact highly with other animals, usually of their own species (conspecifics), to the point of having a rec...