Male whales

Usage examples of bulls.

He did not like the footing on the south bank, but once the lead cow was satisfied that the cows and calves were safely across, she ignored whatever bulls were left behind and set out purposefully for the grazing lands to which she was leading her herd.

As she passed two old bulls they nuzzled her as if to ask what she was about, but she repelled them brusquely and sought a spot not far from the river where trees gave her some protection.

Rufous and the other bulls began a strange but long-inherited chain of behavior.

He also stood by himself and threw out guttural threats, ignoring those that were being voiced by other bulls in the vicinity.

A four-year-old bull that had not yet mated with any cow left the lesser bulls with whom he had for some time been sparring and marched boldly up to the courtship couple.

By this process, wasteful and cruel, cows were assured that they would mate only with the strongest bulls and that the species would be preserved.

Never again would the old fellow mount a cow, for if he were to try, the younger bulls would challenge him, remembering that Rufous had humiliated him.

When Rufous and the other bulls gathered about him to smell whatever mementos there were of the disaster, they could tell that the blood on his right horn was not his.

He did not limp badly, but when he dug in for a charge against his fellow bulls he favored that leg, and when the charge came, there was a noticeable drag to the left.

The fact that he limped deluded other bulls into thinking that here was an easy enemy, and in the first years he was often challenged, always to the dismay of those who did the challenging.

It was usual, when two bulls found contact in their first violent charge, for them to remain locked, their great foreheads touching, their back legs pumping in a contest of brute strength.

With great intensity he watched the three or four older bulls that commanded the cows, and especially he kept his eye on Rufous.

He now ceased any playing around with younger bulls, for he knew that more serious matters were at hand.

Insolently he muscled his way through the younger bulls, always keeping his eye on Rufous.

Skimmerhorn, for all about him he saw an abundance of the very stock he wanted: long rangy cows ready for repeated breeding, lanky steers ready to put on fat once they got settled, hefty pre-potent bulls good for years of service in building a herd.