Yellowstone Bison Lock Horns In Epic Fight For The Right To Mate

Throwing back to this beauty of a grudge match between two bison bulls. This incredible showdown is on account of mating season, where a single bull can mate with as many as 50 females.

As is explained in the BBC Earth video leading up to the duel, the “rut” — just another word for “mating season” — can get a lot of the big bulls tired out. Once that happens, a younger fighter can capitalize and emerge with more mates by taking out his elder in mano-a-mano matchups. Yup, really stretching the boxing/fighting lexicon over here, but shall we proceed?

Can’t help but think of the recent gold medal match between Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz at the Summer Olympics. One man possibly past his prime, with a fresh-faced contender rising the ranks.

But as was the case when Djokovic seized the hardware in Paris, the young bull in this instance got more than he bargained for:

The collisions here when these fellas lock horns are absolutely brutal. I don’t know if there’s even any sound design embellishment at play. Just seems like the natural forces of the animal kingdom going at each other. I kind of spoiled it in the previous paragraph, but the old bull does indeed prevail. Whichever lady they were fighting over, the king of this sect of the herd retains his title and gets his desired mate!

Zack Snyder would be proud of this slo-mo cinematography, which is to me what makes this video so eye-popping. You can feel the impact of every hit, and from the looks of it, the youngin’ might be phased out of the herd via rapid natural selection. He looked pretty banged up as he strode away from that fight. Props to BBC Earth for capturing this slice of wildlife combat.