Mid-Morning Alpine Bulls
The Gallery - Bull Behavior and Vocalizations
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15m
What You'll See:
In this sequence, you'll see two equally matched bulls desperately trying to keep "their" cows away from one another while at the same time trying to attract other cows to "their" side of the small ridge that separates them.
Setting the Stage:
Just before we set up the camera, a large group of cows was split into three harems by three equally matched mature bulls; the two prominent bulls featured in this sequence, and a third bull that can be seen very briefly disappearing off the right side of the screen as he drops down into the timber with "his" harem.
While some cows appear content with the recent arrangement, several cows try to break away from the bulls that are guarding them and either head down into the timber with the other cows and bull, or over to the adjacent bull's harem. As such, both bulls end up repeatedly engaging one another and the cows as they try to keep their ladies sequestered from one another and up on the alpine bench. Eventually, the desire to drop into the timber is too great, and the cows break away, head down into the timber, and pull "their" respective herd bull with them.
During the entire clip, a young satellite bull engages in classic "displacement behavior," as he thrashes in a nearby wallow while the mature bulls display, herd their cows, and bugle below him.
Viewing / Listening Tips:
A few vocalizations are extremely quiet, so turn your volume up as high as you comfortably can, or use headphones/earbuds.
Vocalizations inside parenthesis denote vocalizations made by animals OFF-SCREEN. Text and commentary without parenthesis denote vocalizations made by animals ON-SCREEN. In this video, vocalizations uniquely made by the left-hand bull appear at the left of the screen, those uniquely made by the right-hand bull appear at the right of the screen, and all other vocalizations appear in the center of the screen. Cow vocalizations are denoted in black text.
Vocalizations:
Mews (cow and bull), Glunks/Glunking, Huffs/Huffing, Whines (bull), Groans, Check Bugles, Level 2 Contact Bugles, Levels 2 & 3 Dominant Bugles, and Excited Chuckles
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