Likewise, if the last experience the animal has just prior to leaving a facility is positive, such as a highly palatable food reward, the animal will be more receptive to being work ed the next time. Cortisol, a stress hormone, is secreted in the blood of fearful animals. As care givers, we must be able to reco gnize these signs, interpret and respond appropriately to them. There is a continuum of fear based behaviors in all animals. Low fear is on one end of the continuum, followed by moderately fearful, highly fearful and finally tonic immobility.
Bison are no exception.
The last stage of fear is tonic immobility. An animal that lays down inappropriately and does not respond to stimuli maybe in tonic immobility. For example, when you move a bison from the pen to the squeeze chute it lays down. In effect, this is a form of shock. The antelope that suddenly stops struggling while in the lions jaws is in tonic immobility.