Dead mammal walking: a month-long march by a bison (Bison bison) after an ungulate-vehicle collision

Globally, ungulate-vehicle collisions (UVC) are a major human safety concern and may also represent a significant source of mortality for some ungulate populations. However, records of UVC based on counts of roadside carcasses or reports by drivers involved in these incidents are assuredly underestimated because not all ungulates struck die immediately or at the roadside or are reported by drivers or authorities. Here, we provide an observation and analysis of the movements of a GPS-collared bison (Bison bison) that was involved in a UVC on the Alaska Highway and died in thick boreal forest 29 days later. During that time she moved 49.7 km from where she was hit. Her daily movement rate (km/hr) and daily net displacement (km/day) were significantly greater in the 29-day period before she was struck compared to 29 days afterward. This vivid example illustrates that individuals injured in a UVC can die several weeks later and at a considerable distance from where they were initially struc..., , , # Dead mammal walking: a month-long march by a bison (Bison bison) after an ungulate-vehicle collision

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.pzgmsbcvg](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.pzgmsbcvg)

GPS collar data of Bison #009 and 8 control bison from the same population in northeastern British Columbia 29 days before the UVC (before) and 29 days following (after). Coordinate data has been generalized.

## Description of the data and file structure

Device ID: individual (bison)

Group: Bison #009 - focus individual, Control - control group from same population

Period: Before - before Bison #009 collision event, After - after Bison #009 collision event

Date & Time [GMT]

Latitude (WGS84)

Longitude (WGS84)

## Code/Software

```
R version 4.3.2 (2023-10-31 ucrt) -- \"Eye Holes\"
Copyright (C) 2023 The R Foundation for Statistical Computing
Platform: x86_64-w64-mingw32/x64 (64-bit)
packages <- list('plyr','lubridate','ggmap','maptools','rgdal','maps','mapdata', 'sp', 'raster', 'magrittr', ...