Big bison observation # 1: they like to mess with things

While observing the bison over the past two months, I've begun to notice a definite behavioral pattern concerning how they interact with each other and the objects in their environment.  Specifically, I've noticed a tendency to frequently test the physical characteristics of the things around them and, if a perceived weakness is found, to often attempt to destroy those weak objects.  In other words, bison like to mess with things.

A 100lbs roll of high tensile steel fencing mysteriously pushed over. 

If I were to place a chair in the middle of the pasture, I could guarantee you that the next day the chair would be at a minimum tipped over.  It would probably also be pushed about 30 meters from its original location and broken.  The same would be true of any other man-made objects.  One time I had neatly stacked several large pieces of cardboard near our vehicle gate intending to take them away for recycling the following day.  That night the bison came an somehow manage to push the pieces several meters from the pile and grind red clay hoof prints into the cardboard.

This activity is not only confined to man-made items.  As is evident in the below photograph of a once 8-foot tall tree, they will readily destroy natural objects.

The remains of a young red cedar tree after an encounter with the bison.  This tree probably originally looked much like the green tree standing in the immediate background.

Finally, not only do bison like to physically test the endurance of non-bison objects, they also continuously "buffalo" each other. I've often seen one bison blind-side another with a head-butt to the side. Nothing like a friendly head-butt to bring something to your attention.