Science in Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota

Bison Research at Ordway Prairie 

Early rut--July 29, 2008 Mid rut--August 13, 2008 Close of rut--August 28, 2008 Main bison research page

"Zinc," a 5-year-old bull. Photo courtesy of Gustavus Adolphus College research team

The Story Behind the Names

In the study at Ordway Prairie, some of the bulls’ names may seem unusual, but there are, in fact, reasons for each of them. 

Three younger bulls are becoming active in the rut this year. Here is how we named them. 

“Zinc” got his name because both his tags were yellow #36 and, as our Google search informed us, Zinc chromate is known as “Yellow 36” when used as a pigment. Another bull was named “Bauer,” an allusion to the protagonist of the TV series “24”, due to his tag sharing that number. Finally, we had a bull with the tags 19 and 20. We named him “Bootleg,” as a reference to Prohibition in the United States, which went into effect in 1920 at the federal level. 

We refer to bulls by a name rather than the number on their ear tags because bulls frequently lose their tags while fighting. Referring to each bull by a name ensures that our data is recorded consistently and accurately from year to year as the tag numbers change and as different researchers work on this project. 

During the first year of this study only a few of the bulls had ear tags to help us identify them. We attempted to mark the bulls in the pasture by shooting them with oil based paint balls. We quickly found that this would not work since the bulls immediately wallowed and rubbed the paint off. However, one bull was left with a slight glow of orange paint—thus, “Orangeglo” was named.

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