Unbroken Relationships

Submitted by:	Brennan Stanfield
Department:	Renewable Resources
Faculty:	Agricultural, Life + Environmental Sciences

Unbroken relationships… we all have them. Our lives are composed of relationships and to have one remain unbroken is profound. In Wood Buffalo National Park, one of the outstanding universal values that contributes to the UNESCO World Heritage Site status, is the unbroken relationship between wolves and bison. My research objective is to provide an update on their dynamics. During my fieldwork I visit sites recently occupied by wolves to see if there is a bison kill. I visit these areas days to weeks after the two were last there and infer the dynamics of their relationship from what is left behind. This photograph captured the first time I saw them interact first hand. The bison charged down the road toward the lone wolf standing boldly in front of them. The bison came within 50 m of the wolf before the bulls moved to the front of the herd and the calves to the back. I expected the herd to run straight through the wolf; instead, they came within five meters of it, before turning abruptly into the woods. As if the wolf had been shepherding the herd, it waited until the last bison stepped off, then followed. What happened next is only known to the wolf and bison.

Was your image created using Generative AI?
No.

How was your image created?
This photograph was taken on the last day of a five day fieldwork trip. In the days leading up to this I had seen moose, lynx, owls, and even a wolverine on this road, so my camera now sat in my lap while in the truck. While driving, my colleague and I noticed large tracks along each side of the road. Low and behold, 150 meters in front of us stood around 30 bison. As soon as we saw the bison my lens cap was off and my window was down (despite it being -30 ℃). We followed as they began hesitantly moving down the snow covered road. The driver and I slowly looked toward each other to confirm what we were seeing, that there was, in fact, a single wolf standing at the edge of the road. I struggled to keep the camera steady as we drove and hoped there would be at least one picture that captured this interaction. While there were several photos that turned out, none quite compared to this one. I wish I could take credit for the different shades of the animals, however, this occurred naturally from the herd kicking up snow as the bison ran toward the wolf. It was quite a culmination to an eventful week in the field.

Where is the image located?
Wood Buffalo National Park, Canada.