Since direct observation of a fossil animal's behavior isn't possible, paleontologists use comparison and contrast with living animals for guidance. Tracks can sometimes reveal further clues.
Social Behavior
Bison latifrons: Very large horns signaled fitness to potential mates as well as serving to ward off predators (Geist 1996)
B. latifrons may have been more solitary than B. antiquus (McDonald 1981)
Forest habitats/woodland habitats with limited resources wouldn't support large populations of large herbivores
Vocalizations would have been an important means for mate-finding in somewhat closed habitats
May have had life-style similar to modern moose
B. antiquus had stronger herding and more complex social behavior than B. latifrons (McDonald 1981)
B. latifrons may have engaged in dominance and fighting behavior characterized by hooking, not butting (McDonald 1981)
Larger horns have curvature that places tips above frontal bones of skull
Foreheads are flattened rather than domed (domed-head modern bison are fortified against head-butting)
Bison antiquus fighting behavior probably characterized by more head to head impacts
Interspecies Interactions
Bison latifrons probably used sheer size a deterrent for predators
No evidence for hunting by humans
Bison antiquus probably used flight as a predator defense
Bison antiquus shared the grassland environments with horses, camels, giant ground sloths, and mammoths
