Dr. Hoof Stock

Nuggets (42Y is the new male Douglas)
9:11am- We spot a female(No ID) with new born calf running across lodge field, from creek across lower lodge pasture up the hill into the wooded area.

12:33 42Y joined the group and toby stares at him. 42Y does a head-toss and looks away. 42Y sniffs 59Y rear and side and licks her nose, and Toby starts to approach 42Y, but stops.

12:36- Sparring between Toby and 42Y, and 42 is displaced.

12:45- 42Y followed and sniffed 57Y and she darted away towards the group. 42Y mounted female (No ID) and Toby lunged at 42Y and 42Y ran away, up to 100m. Toby grazes near female that was mounted.

12:57- 42Y approaches Toby and sniffs nose with neck low, Toby does a neck arch and present horns. He pushes 42Y and 42Y backs off.

1:00pm- Toby approaches 42Y and 42Y has neck low, Toby has neck arched, they spar, and 42Y de-escalates.

6:59pm- Crooked Tail is nursing with Natural Notch. CT is on bent down on his front wrists to be able to nurse. CT interrupts the bout.

7:07pm- Toby approaches 42Y with his neck arched. 42 lowers his head and they spar, stop and spar again. 42Y is displaced.

7:11pm- Toby’s neck is arched, sparring occurs with 42Y and 42Y is displaced.

7:18pm-Toby charges 42Y and 42Y runs away.

7:24pm- Toby does a head toss and 42Y is displaced.

7:38pm-42Y approaches Toby and licks his nose. Sparring occurs and 42Y runs away.

7:39pm- 42Y approaches Toby and spar. 42Y is displaced.

7:40pm- 42Y approaches females and Toby is following him.

8:05pm- 42Y does nostril licking, sniffing and flehmen to blue tag female. Blue-tag does a head toss.

8:09pm-42Y approaches, sniffs, and does flehmen to female (No ID). She pulls away quickly and 42Y turns to sniff another female’s rear. She also runs away and does head toss. 42Y does a foreleg kick and the female runs and with 42Y following.

8:11pm- 42Y sniffs female’s rear and she walks away. (sunset).

8:14pm- Toby approaches 42Y and 42Y backs away while doing a head toss. 42Y is at the back of the moving herd.
8:16pm- Toby approaches twice to displace 42Y. This is clear signs of herding by Toby.

8:20pm- Female and newborn calf spotted interacting with three females including Red-tag in Juniper Loop.

22 waterbuck were accounted for today.

Dr. Jane Packard, Renee Jones, and Jared Zakarian

Today was the first day that the new intact male, Douglas Adams (Doug for short) (yellow tag 42) was released into the main pasture at 10:30 am. the females and calves were inside the juniper loop, lying down. Dr. Jane Packard and Jared observed until 5:00, when Renee took over.

With some prompting from Adam, 42Y bolted out of the gate to the clinic and ran toward the blackbuck pasture. He was alert and jumpy in response to cars. He alternated grazing with moving in and out of the woods. After an hour, he moved along the fenceline in the direction of the juniper loop. The wind was gusting out of the west and the females were north of him. When he found the females lying down near the shed in the juniper loop, he stared, then turned and ran along the road toward Safari camp. At the intersection of the road, he sniffed the locations where the female waterbuck often lie. He was nervously staring at our vehicle, so I gave him some room and drove toward Safari camp. He relaxed and walked toward the females.

When we returned after 10 min, an unmarked female was running toward the waterbuck shed, with 42Y following at a run. The rest of the females were standing in the same location they had been lying. By the time we drove to the road passing the waterbuck shed, 42Y (Doug) was with Toby and two females in the juniper.

Toby sniffed Doug’s rear and followed him closely. Once, Doug reached around and sniffed noses with Toby. Slowly, Toby rubbed his horns and pushed slightly at Doug’s flank. Doug turned and they sparred. Toby is heavier than Doug, and pushed him backwards. Doug backed down and trotted away a short distance. Doug also approached Toby with a neck stretch submissive posture and some tooth chomping. They went out of view into the junipers.

When we found them in the pasture near safari camp, Toby was following Doug at a distance of 1-2 m. Several times they repeated this interaction: Toby did neck arch, Doug turned toward him, they sparred briefly and Doug de-escalated. It was always low intensity with Toby escalating and Doug de-escalating. Also Toby seemed to be positioning himself between Doug and the females, as if he was herding Doug away.

They walked past the Safari camp waterhole. Doug looked at the water and jumped back as if startled. They both grazed and interacted near the intersection of the road to Safari Camp and the tour loop. When Toby walked toward the females, Doug followed.

The females followed Doug, sniffing his rear, as if curious. He ignored them. Crooked Tail (CT) followed and sniffed his rear, but jumped away when Doug looked at him. Doug departed toward the Waterbuck shed, with Toby following him. Almost an hour later, they returned to the females. There was more following by females and low intensity sparring with Toby. Then Renee arrived and we turned over the equipment to her.

(Jane & Jared)

Below are the nuggets from 5pm to 830pm from Renee.

1. Throughout the day, Toby displaced 42 by approaching him, sparring, or displaying with neck arched and horns down.

2. Toby placed himself in between 42 and a female when 42 approached a female (no ID) to sniff at her rear.

3. Toby charged with his head down from about 8-10 yards away to 42. 42 was displaced.

4. One or more waterbuck would stand and watch 42 for minutes at a time as he grazed or sniffed other females.

5. Crooked tail approached 42 from behind to sniff his rear. Crooked tail also did a head toss and 42 did not respond.

6. 42 sniffed and followed several females throughout the day. All females responded the same by moving or running away.

7. 42 sniffed, foreleg kick, and followed one female (no ID) for approximately 15 minutes. She would full out run away and 42 stayed with her, and ran around over 100 yards in the front pasture. He continued to approach her over and over during the end of the day to repeat the behavior.

8. 42 watches Kudo through the fence near entrance of pasture (approximately 3 yards from each other).

Renee Jones