A Park Cabin SCALE OF MILES Fig. 1. Map of Wood Buffalo National Park. BEHAVIOlJR AND SOCIAL ORGANIZATION OF THE WILD BISON OF WOOD BUFFALO

• Main Author: W. A. Fuller
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Slaughter; Wood Buffalo; Arctic; Bison bison athabascae; Wood Bison; Wood Buffalo National Park; Bison bison bison; Plains Bison
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.573.321; http://pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca/arctic/Arctic13-1-2.pdf

F ROM 1950 to 1956 I was engaged in a study of the biology of the bison in Wood Buffalo National Park with particular reference to the effects of tuberculosis. During this time I had many opportunities to observe their behaviour. The purpose of this report is to record my observations. Wood Buffalo National Park (Fig. 1) was originally set aside in 1922 for the protection of the last remnant of the wood bison (Bison bison athabascae). However, in the years 1925 to 1928 inclusive, more than 6,000 plains bison (B. b. bison) were introduced into the park where they inter-bred with the estimated 1,500 remaining wood bison. The population now in the park is considered to consist almost entirely of a mixture of the two races. Animals closer to the plains type predominate. The animals are completely in the wild state. A few hundred are rounded up annually and held in corrals for a few weeks before slaughter. There are no other fences, and supplementary feeding is neither required nor practised. All observations refer to free-ranging bison unless the corrals are specifically mentioned.