Bison - Sounds Wild
Wood Bison 2018

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Wood Bison 2018

In June of 2018, fifty dark brown wood bison are grouped together in a green sedge meadow near the lower Yukon River. Six cinnamon colored calves of the year are mixed in with the adults. It was a hard winter for these wood bison, and they're just now gaining back weight they lost over the winter.

Alaska's only wild wood bison herd had significant losses in spring of 2018, decreasing from about 140 animals in June of 2017 to a count of 90 animals in June of 2018.

Those 140 wood bison were in excellent body condition in the fall of 2017. But in late February 2018 it started to snow and sometimes rain at least once a week. This deep, firm snow made it hard for bison to move and find food under the snow. Wolves were another factor. Wolves had a major advantage during March and April because they could run on top of the snow and bison and moose had a very difficult time moving. As the weeks went by, the wolves got stronger from eating so well and the herbivores got weaker from the increased harassment by wolves and the lack of access to forage.

About fifty bison succumbed to starvation and predation in the difficult spring of 2018. But the remaining 90 wood bison rebounded fast when the vegetation greened up in May. These hardy survivors are the bison that can handle a difficult winter event. By mid-June bison were fattening up, and 11 new born calves were counted in June of 2018