A bachelor herd is a herd of (usually) juvenile male animals who are still sexually immature or 'harem'-forming animals who have been thrown out of their parent groups but not yet formed a new family group. It may also refer to a group of males who are not currently territorial or mating with females.[1][2]
Examples include seals, dolphins, lions, and many herbivores such as deer, horses, and elephants. Bachelor herds are thought to provide useful protection for social animals against more established herd competition or aggressive, dominant males. Males in bachelor herds are sometimes closely related to each other. Some animals, for example New Zealand fur seals, live in a bachelor herd all year except for the mating season, when there is a substantial increase in aggression and competition.[3]
In many species, males and females move in separate groups, often coming together at mating time, or to fight for territory or mating partners. In many species it is common for males to leave or be driven from the group as they mature, and they may wander as lone animals or form a bachelor group for the time being. This arrangement may be long term and stable, or short term until they find a new group to join.
^Estes, R.D. (2004). The Behavior Guide to African Mammals: Including Hoofed Mammals, Carnivores, Primates. Berkeley, US: University of California Press. pp. 158–66. ISBN 978-0-520-08085-0.
^Braje, Todd (2011). Human Impacts on Seals, Sea Lions, and Sea Otters: Integrating Archaeology and Ecology in the Northeast Pacific. Berkeley, US: University of California Press. pp. 210–222. ISBN 978-0-520-67268-0.
^Chilvers, B.L.; Goldsworthy, S.D. (2015). "Arctocephalus forsteri, New Zealand Fur Seal". The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: 1–14.
A bachelorherd is a herd of (usually) juvenile male animals who are still sexually immature or 'harem'-forming animals who have been thrown out of their...
all-male, "bachelor bands" in the wild. Living in a group gives these stallions the social and protective benefits of living in a herd. A bachelorherd may also...
peacefully in bachelorherds in the wild and in natural management settings. For example, the stallions in the New Forest (U.K.) live in bachelorherds on their...
In herd situations, cows with young calves are often more dangerous to humans. In the off season, multiple bulls may be kept together in a "bachelor herd"...
distinct social groups can be observed: the territorial males, bachelorherds and female herds. The impala is known for two characteristic leaps that constitute...
requirement. The three distinct social groups are the female herds, the bachelorherds, and the territorial bulls. They are fast runners and communicate...
dogs may prey upon giraffes. Giraffes live in herds of related females and their offspring or bachelorherds of unrelated adult males, but are gregarious...
various locations through shared activities or even just conversing. Bachelorherd Bromance Female bonding Gay men Homosociality Human bonding Mancation...
day. It forms three types of small groups: female, male, and young bachelorherds. Males often adopt lekking as a strategy to garner females for mating...
containing no more than 10 adults, bachelorherds may contain as many as 50 males. When they feel threatened, guanacos alert the herd to flee with a high-pitched...
may form herds consisting of six to 30 individuals. These groups are either nursery herds with females and their offspring or bachelorherds. Males start...
the herd. There are more males than just herd stallions, so unattached male horses group together for protection in small all-male "bachelorherds", where...
Mixed-sex herds or harems have a roughly 3:1 sex ratio; bachelor individuals are also observed. In the mating season, males generally form herds and wander...
years old and either live alone or join other males in bachelorherds. Male and female herds usually do not mingle until the breeding season, which can...
During the dry season, males split from the herd and form bachelor groups. Two types of bachelorherds occur: ones made of males aged four to seven years...
together in mixed or single sex herds of up to three individuals; sub-adult or subordinate adult males may form bachelorherds of 2-38 individuals; female...
so. Anderson described the Bachelor as being "as big as a Shetland pony," while Edye said it was as big as a donkey. A herder and former poacher who had...
and Emmanuel Acho. Taylor was the news update anchor on Fox Sports 1's The Herd with Colin Cowherd and the host of The Joy Taylor Show Saturdays on Fox Sports...
African Lion Safari in Ontario. This move made Denver's herd the largest Asian elephant bachelorherd in the world with five bulls. On February 22, 2020,...
individuals in a herd can vary greatly (up to 100 have been reported occasionally), but the average is 10 or fewer individuals. Bachelorherds do not occur...
Family herds included four to ten females with their young and an adult alpha stallion. Other males were gathered in less socially stable bachelorherds, and...
statement that it had the capacity to accept a further giraffe into its bachelorherd in its state-of-the-art giraffe house built in 2012, and that contact...