Bison Family

"The bison, and its many cousins, all occupy the same ecological role in their respective environments as the dominant grazing and browsing herbivore, and the dominant prey source for many of the largest apex predators, as well as for people. This does not mean they are skittish or docile however, and there are stories in the early days of settling Rohara's wild plains of entire hunting camps and burgeoning hamlets being trampled and smashed apart from hunting gone wrong. A herd of bison in a stampede is an unstoppable force, the very ground itself shakes and begs forgiveness beneath them, and they are not known for their care of obstructions. They do not need to be, given their bulk and hardiness, with adults weighing well in excess of a thousand pounds. Truly majestic creatures of the natural order, an example of how even the mundane animals of the world can be awe inspiring.

Montague Cuchilian Williamson Esq (Mochi to his closest companions and fellows) explorer, wildlife researcher and enthusiast.

Basic Information

Anatomy

Bison are truly massive herbivores that dominate the temperate plains of Rohara, and once were found even in the southeastern plains of Depenwood, though no longer. Their shaggy coats and bulky bodies allow them to handle well the cold prairie and steppe winters, and their spade like jaw and snout design as well as skull structure makes them adept at plowing troughs through the snow to dig up the rotting plant matter beneath, which they can digest and extract nutrition from quite efficiently. Their bulk and horns, along with their natural herd structure create a strong defense so that their predators are few and far between, with only the mightiest of grizzlies, or the wisest and most skilled of wolf packs would dare to attempt it. Even worgs and their ilk, or monsters such as a chimera would think carefully before choosing to muck about with a herd of bison. Such is the aggressive nature of this creature, and the raw power their bodies possess.

Genetics and Reproduction

These mighty beasts, and all their cousins, reproduce similarly. Cows, the females, reach sexual maturity at about three years of age, and so long as food and weight gain are plentiful enough to support it, and suitable males are available for mating, they will mate every year in the summer, and give birth in the late stages of winter, or the very early spring. Calves grow quickly and are weaned off their mother's milk a mere handful of weeks after birth. Though still babies, they are by this point under the herd's protection, and no longer need their mother for sustanence, seemingly able and capable of grazing and feeding like the other adults, having learned from and continuing to learn from them what the best food options are. It is highly rare for bison to birth more than one calf a year, though there have been a handful of observed and documented instances of twins.

Growth Rate & Stages

When calves are born, though they are reliant on their mother's milk for sustanence for a few weeks, they are born small, but fully formed, able to walk within mere moments of birth and able to run but an hour or two after being born. This is a necessary adaptation that likely evolved as it did in many mammal prey species, to limit the vulnerability period to as small and short as possible for mother and calf. After about a month, the calf will be entirely weaned off its mother's milk, and she will likely be pregnant with another calf not long after that if all has gone well. Calves grow quickly that first year or two, reaching near adult size by about two years, and reaching sexual maturity by three years of age.

From there adults can live as long as twenty years, though ten to fifteen is more common, and they remain capable of reproduction through all those years, so far any current research and study suggests. It is worth noting however, for males, their prime years seem to fall in the range of ages six to ten, as after that they simply struggle to compete with the younger and more physically fit bulls.

Ecology and Habitats

Bison roam the wild temperate plains of Rohara and into Valewyr, and once were found in Depenwood on the continent of Durol as well, but no longer. Musk oxen similarly roam the wild tundras plains of Suranth, with the savannahs all through Susma and bordering Kang-Chorath, along with the rich grassland valleys of Valewyr are dominated by Cape Buffalo. Longhorns, meanwhile, roam the jungles of Waston and Mora in small herds but just as dominant in their role as a large bulk herbivore.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Though first thought to be mere grazers, Bison and their cousins are actually quite diverse and selective in their diet, grazing and browsing, able to pick and choose the highest yield plants with ease and an instinctual evolutionary understanding.

Behaviour

Bison, Cape Buffalo, and Musk Oxen are all large, ornery and aggressive herd based herbivores, known to actively chase predator animals. They do not respond kindly to unwelcome guests in what they deem to be the herd's space. They form into large tight knit herds easily numbering fifty animals or more regularly, with some herds of bison across Rohara having been reported to be easily in the range of hundreds, though such massive groups are becoming rarer and rarer.

Longhorns are unique in this regard, likely due to the terrain of their preferred biome and its constraints. Their herds are estimated to generally be around eight to twenty animals, the herd naturally splitting into two smaller herds whenever it gets to be to big.

Additional Information

Domestication

Though no wild bison exist any longer, there are a handful of small bison ranches in the southern plains of Depenwood, five to be exact. Combined however these ranches only have perhaps two or three hundred animals at any given time, and the meat, hide, and all other resources one may harvest from a downed bison are a local good, never really leaving that region. Domestication in Rohara is far more common, as domestic bison and cattle can comingle, and even cobreed. They can be raised as beasts of burden as well, used for farmwork. That is not to say it is not without its struggles and challenges. They are dangerous beasts and also quite capable. Unlike cattle, they can jump, clearing even four foot fences, so they require more customized pasture barriers. During mating season they can also become very aggressive, dangerously so to both farmer and the rest of the herd, potentially. So such a practice has its limits in value and usage.

Uses, Products & Exploitation

In these various regions all these animals are used greatly as a resource by the local populace, both civilized and monstrous. The meat is a highly dense and nutritionally heavy and thick food source, one offering high calorie and nutritional yield. Their hides make the finest of leathers, strong, sturdy, yet pliable and forgiving to work with. Musk oxen and Bison coats are valuable insulators for clothing, making wonderful winter weather gear. Their horns and bones are still favored tool making material and cutlery making material, even over metal in many places. Their sinew strands and muscle fibres are strong, flexible and robust, making excellent winch material or bowstrings and the like. They are a highly important and culturally significant resource to any humanoid groups in the regions they live.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Bison have an excellent sence of smell, and their hearing is fine, though not acute. However, as with many such massive herbivores their eyesight is subpar for the animal kingdom. This does not hinder the herd very much though. In fact, bison, along with their cousins, have all formed uniquely symbiotic relationships with various other creatures in their biomes, allowing them to cover this natural weakness. For bison it is in their relationship with white-tail deer in their biome of choice, as these deer will oft intermingle, grazing amidst the herd, regularly scanning the edges of the feeding area for any signs of movement, their own sharp nose also constantly active.

Longhorns have much the same relationship with the sharp eyed Steer's parrot, a rare insectivore species of parrot that feed on the backs of the longhorns, using them as a hunting platform to hunt everything from mosquitos to dragonflies, and all insects inbetween. These small parrots do not hear well, but have wildly sharp eyesight, and can make a hell of a racket. Longhorns can tell the difference, it would seem, between their normal calls and bickering, and when they are raising an alarm. As such, if they see a predator of any kind, they will raise an alarm, squawking up a storm. The parrot's feces uniquely also aid the longhorns, as you may imagine their backs, disgustingly enough to our perceptions, are coated with them. However this seemingly disgusting trait is actually a benefit, as the Steer's Parrot's feces act as a natural mosquito and blackfly repellant, creating a hardened layer that insures the insects have nowhere to bite. Though this does not stop all such insect bites, it greatly reduces them, and reduces the available surface area for them.

These are but two examples, however rest assured cape buffalo and musk oxen have similiarly beneficial relationships with other animals in their respective biomes to similarly cover the weakness of their eye sight, with antelope and caribou respectively. Longhorns are rather unique by comparison with their relationship.

Bison Reference Sheet

Scientific Name

Bovidae Grazius Herculias

Origin/Ancestry

Known to share a common ancestor with cattle and its wild cousins the Longhorn, Cape Buffalo and Musk Oxen, since they can interbreed.

Geographic Distribution

• Continent of Durol
• Continent of Gavis-Lune
• Continent of Wyriel