The American bison is one of the most social hoofed animals in North America. They live in grassy areas and hang out in herds all day, eating grass together and running around. Bison are super important to Americans because they are a part of Native American culture and give food to communities – they actually are the national mammal of the United States! The moms, or cows, are huge but the babies, or calves, are small and adorable. They all have pointy horns and are super fluffy. Bison moms and babies are really close to one another – they stay together for a year while the baby grows up and they “talk” all the time to bond. They don’t speak with words like humans, but with low pitched grunts that have different meanings. This communication is super important because it allows them to do the same activities together and it keeps babies alive while they are still learning. A mom will call to tell her baby to nurse, come closer to her, walk with her, or take a nap. Usually only calls from boys, or bulls, are studied, but in 2024 a team of scientists looked at mom-baby calls for the first time and found some really interesting facts!
Just like when your mom holds your hand when you walk through a parking lot, bison babies stay close to their moms and their mom always has an eye on them. Moms can recognize their own babies and they each have their own special calls to help them find one another. Moms get really worried when their babies are away from them, like how your mom doesn’t like when you run too far away from her in the park. Just because animals are different from humans in many ways, that doesn’t mean their moms are any less protective!
The scientists who studied bison on a ranch in Montana wanted to know if moms and babies talked differently. They found that they do! Babies have much shorter calls and talk much faster than their moms. These scientists also wanted to know when moms and babies talked to one another and found many situations where calling happened. The most common is a “moving on call”, when moms want their babies to move with them to another place. When the baby hears their mom calling, they run up to her and walk next to her. The second most common is a “calf contact call”, where moms check in on their babies to see if they are okay. The baby responds but does not come to their mom. Moms also call when it is time to nurse and the baby responds by running up to her and doing just that, kind of like when your mom calls you for dinner. Moms also do “summons calls”, where they yell for their babies to just come stand with them. “Imprinting calls” happen when a baby is laying down and the mom circles them, softly speaking. This is like when a human mom sings a lullaby to their baby, telling them they are still close to them and bonding with them. Babies talk to their moms too – they yell like they are saying “Hi!” and the mom answers, called “yearling contact calls”. Lastly, they found that when a mom loses her baby, she gets super stressed just like when a human baby goes out of their mom’s sight. She runs around like crazy all by herself, yelling really loud and panicking until she finds her baby safe and sound.
When looking at bison mom-baby relationships and communication, it shows that humans and bison aren’t really that different. Humans are mammals just like bison, meaning they both give birth, make milk, and have fur. It’s really not surprising that bison moms talk to their babies and tell them what to do all the time, just like human moms. So, the next time you get annoyed at your mom for worrying all the time, remember that it’s in her blood and all moms get protective – even fluffy bison!
Bison mother–offspring acoustic communication
