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Social Organization And Decision Making In North American Bison: Implications For Management, Ryan A. Shaw
Social Organization And Decision Making In North American Bison: Implications For Management, Ryan A. Shaw
All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023
Social organization varies widely among herbivores, and the level of social organization in bison is widely debated. I hypothesized that when mother-daughter relationships are allowed to develop, bison form long-term associations. In my study, 25 treatment mothers were selected from a free-ranging herd and kept together with their calves, while 25 control females had their calves forcefully removed. Treatment mothers and offspring had by far the greatest number of associations with a greater percentage of individuals with a half weight index (HWI) > 0.50. The strongest associations (HWI > 0.31) were among treatment mothers and their offspring. Moreover, these associations persisted over …