Dr. Hoof Stock

18:25- 3 no tag females and 2 calves.  The larger calf(LC) was grazing while the smaller one (SC)was lying down.  The female approached smaller one and stood as smaller calf approached.  Female sniffed rear of SC and SC moved toward LC.

18:37-Lucifer with 8 waterbuck just NE of Lodge in pasture.  They all were grazing.  Lucifer is at the back of herd.

18:50- Lucifer does flehmen to  no tag female and she walked away.  Lucifer cont. to graze

18:55- 11 waterbuck in view with Lucifer.  Toby, Y57, Y59, Y62, CT, Red tag, and 5 no tag females.

19:15- Toby backed away from Lucifer while grazing.  He possibly did not noticed how close he was.  Lucifer cont. to graze.

19:18- 2 more no tag females in view.  14 total waterbuck.

19:49- no tag female licked at rear  and inguinal of O664 calf as the calf chewed on dryed grass blades.

19:58-Lucifer followed and does flehmen to untagged female.  She stands and Lucifer does a horn tap on her rear.  She stepped away.  CT approached female and sniffed her rear, the female does a head toss and takes a few steps toward CT.  CT is displayed and jogged off and circled back around.  Lucifer was grazing.

8:05- Lucifer followed the same female and sniffed/flehmen at her rear and does a head rub on her rear.  CT is watching near by.  A white truck pulled up and parked at pool.  This disrupted the herd and displayed them all back towards the trees.

Dr. Packard, Renee Jones, Don Hardeman

We arrived at 7 am, the weather was pt. cloudy and 69 degrees.

7:17am- Y58 licked at neck of o663 calf, Y58 then sniffs and licks at rear of calf.  Y58 left and the calf followed.

7:4?am- CT followed no tag female and attempted mount.  She went to water hole and CT followed.

7:53am- 545 licked at head of no tag calf.  Calf [strained while defecating and ] has runn[y] stool. [ Calf had left light eye, fur stained from fluid draining from eye.]

7:56am- Just East of Lodge and creek in the pasture were 8 water buck with one white tail. They were all grazing

The eight were- Toby, Y57, Red tag, Y63 and 4 untagged females.

8:21am- Lucifer spotted at West end of Juniper Loop grazing near a few waterbuck.

8:24am- Crooked Tail sniffed Lucifer’s rear and Lucifer did not stop grazing.

8:27am- Lucifer approach an untagged female. She does a head shake (side to side) while lowering her head. Lucifer sniffed her rear and does flehmen and followed her across the pasture. This repeats for 11 minutes and Lucifer stopped and then grazes.

8:33am- Lucifer approached the same female and sniffed her rear. She steps away and he continued grazing and then laid down.

9:43am- Lucifer approached Addax herd passing by. He does extremely light sparring with one addax. He wagged his tail once the addax deescalated. Lucifer approached another addax and the addax turned to walk away. Lucifer approached a third addax and does a head toss. The addax was displaced.

9:53am- Lucifer is out of view heading towards waterbuck shed possibly.

From 10am to 6pm- 30 hour roving were done to locate all of the waterbuck.

1215pm- A: Lucifer alone grazing near safari camp in pasture B: 3 females with no tags, one grazing, one standing, one lying down at pasture East of Lodge and Creek C: 2 female untagged, one grazing, one lying down at East end of Juniper Loop D: 2 female and CT, all were lying down chewing cud at West end of Juniper Loop E: 3 untagged females all grazing in pasture next to road leading to safari camp from tour route road. F: 2 untagged female with 2 one Orange tag and one untagged calf. One pair nursing, other pair, mother was licking Orange tagged calf all over.

1:29pm- In addition to previous roving another group was spotted at this time. G: 9 waterbuck grazing. Toby, Yellow tag(number unknown) female, and 7 untagged females.

2:30pm- Groups E and D were merging while grazing near safari camp, C: moved 50 yards East while grazing. Lucifer out of sight.

3:00pm- Group G is out of sight, and Lucifer and group B.

3:44pm- female standing between CT and calf.  Female does a head toss at CT and he moved away.

4:00pm- Group E, D, C are the only groups still visible in same area.

5:00pm- Group C is the only group still visible

6:00pm-Group C is the only group visible.

Reneé Jones [edited by Jane Packard 8/05/08]

We just met and did some brainstorming, and Kelly will be uploading some ideas . . .

 Lauren Payne observed the waterbuck at Fossil Rim during the summer of 2008, when the vasectomized male, Lucifer, was replaced for two months by the young intact male, Douglas.  This is a directed studies inquiry project for credit at Texas A&M University.  In addition to the observations posted to this blog,  Lauren produced:

• essay:  The Web of Life and the Waterbuck           

He was in quarantine.

He was introduced to the group on 5/7/08

He was removed on: 7/10/08 and returned to quarantine until a companion could be identified to move him to retirement

The intact male that had been in quarantine was introduced. See fieldnotes for details.

6 Subadults documented as present

• small size:  untagged calf
• medium size: project ID ?807 (Crooked tail, calf of Slit ear born 11/07); project ID: ?806 (Puffybut, calf of Y58, born in 7/2007)
• subadult size: project ID: F804 (born in 9/2006), F549Red, F545Blue.

2 Adult males: Toby, Douglas (42Y)
15 Adult females: F56Y (lost tag); F57Y, F58Y, F59Y, F61Y (Slitear), F62Y, F63Y, F64Y; “Natural notch”, 6 unmarked

Lucifer was removed so that the new intact male could be put in with the herd, to synchronize estrus in the females and sire calves to be born in January-February.

6 Subadults documented as present

• small size:  new calf (maybe 2-3 weeks old?)
• medium size:  project ID ?807 (Crooked tail, calf of Slit ear born 11/07); project ID: ?806 (Puffybut, calf of Y58, born in 7/2007)
• subadult size:  project ID: F804 (born in 9/2006), F549Red, F545Blue.

1 Adult male (castrated): Toby

15 Adult females: F56Y (lost tag); F57Y, F58Y, F59Y,  F61Y (Slitear), F62Y, F63Y, F64Y; “Natural notch”, 6 unmarked

Lauren successfully finished her observations and wrote up her report!  She stopped by today while on campus for the Beef Short Course, and dropped off the gear bag and datasheets.  Amanda registered her for a “Directed Studies” during fall semester, so she will get credit hours for her research project this summer.

I’m sure Renee will also be interested in reading her report.  We will be meeting the third week of August to talk about next steps for the waterbuck project.  So we will be thinking about how to work up the comparison between Lucifer and Douglas, including considering whether there might be enough data to submit a write-up to a newsletter or journal.

Lauren, thanks for filling in at such an important time and doing a great job!

Jane

From Lauren’s notes, it appears there is another new calf, which had a yellow tagged dam, and was tagged by Adam….lets do more detective work on this!….

8/23/08  ?663O.58?.7/08  following F58Y, who licked calf (does not necessarily mean it is her calf)

            I located a herd of 14 females, Crooked Tail, and another larger sized calf in the front pasture. I found Lucifer and Toby with 2 other females by the Lodge. Lucifer sniffed a female but soon lost interest. They were all grazing. There was a mother and calf nursing that I got on video. Also, there was a single waterbuck female on the Juniper Loop. That initial herd of females had moved behind the vet clinic, into the shed. There was very little activity with them.

–Lauren