African buffalo

The African buffalo is a very robust species. Its shoulder height can range from and its head-and-body length can range from . The tail can range from long. Compared with other large bovids, it has a long but stocky body (the body length can exceed that of the wild water buffalo, which is heavier and taller) and short but thickset legs, resulting in a relatively short standing height. Cape buffaloes weigh (males weigh about more than females).{{Cite encyclopedia Savannah-type buffaloes have black or dark brown coats with age. Old bulls often have whitish circles around their eyes and on their face. Females tend to have more reddish coats. Forest-type buffaloes are 30–40% smaller, reddish brown in colour, with much more hair growth around the ears and with horns that curve back and slightly up. Calves of both types have red coats. A characteristic feature of the horns of adult male African buffalo (southern and eastern populations) is that the bases come very close together, forming a shield referred to as a "boss". From the base, the horns diverge downwards, then smoothly curve upwards and outwards and in some cases inwards and or backwards. In large bulls, the distance between the ends of the horns can reach upwards of one metre (the record being ). The horns form fully when the animal reaches the age of 5 or 6 years old, but the bosses do not become "hard" until it reaches the age of 8 to 9 years old. In cows, the horns are, on average, 10–20% smaller, and they do not have a boss. Forest-type buffalo horns are smaller than those of the savanna-type buffaloes from Southern and East Africa, usually measuring less than , and are almost never fused. Unlike other large bovines, African buffalo have 52 chromosomes (for comparison, American bison and domestic cattle have 60). This means they are unable to produce hybrid offspring with domestic cattle and bison. ==Subspecies==

There are five subspecies that are recognized as valid by most authorities: • Syncerus caffer caffer, the Cape buffalo, is the nominotypical subspecies, as well as the largest, found in Southern and East Africa. • S. c. nanus, the forest buffalo, is the smallest subspecies, common in forest areas of Central and West Africa • S. c. brachyceros, the Sudan buffalo, a smaller version of the Cape buffalo, found in the drier, northern areas of Central and West Africa. • S. c. aequinoctialis, the Nile buffalo, sometimes considered identical to the Sudan buffalo, found in the drier, northern areas of East and Central Africa. • S. c. mathewsi, the mountain buffalo, a disputed subspecies from the Virunga Mountains in Central Africa. ==Ecology==

The African buffalo is one of the most successful grazers in Africa. It lives in savannas, swamps and floodplains, as well as mopane grasslands, and the forests of the major mountains of Africa. This buffalo prefers a habitat with dense cover, such as reeds and thickets, but can also be found in open woodland. While not particularly demanding in regard to habitat, they require water daily, and so they depend on perennial sources of water. Like the plains zebra, the buffalo can live on tall, coarse grasses. Herds of buffalo mow down grasses and make way for more selective grazers. When feeding, the buffalo makes use of its tongue and wide incisor row to eat grass more quickly than most other African herbivores. Buffaloes do not stay on trampled or depleted areas for long. Other than humans, African buffaloes have few predators and are capable of defending themselves against (and killing) lions. Lions kill and eat buffaloes regularly, and in some regions, the buffaloes are the lions' primary prey. It often takes several lions to bring down a single adult buffalo, and the entire pride may join in the hunt. However, several incidents have been reported in which lone adult male lions have successfully brought down adult buffaloes. On very rare occasions, buffaloes and white rhinos will fight over territory; due to the rhino's strength and size advantage, the rhino typically wins and the buffalo can die from injuries sustained during the encounter. Rhinos live solitary lives, whereas buffalo (excluding solitary adult bulls) primarily live social lives and thus they do not usually recognize each other as threats. Hippopotamuses and buffalo also do not normally interact, but if the buffalo provokes the hippo or makes it feel threatened, a fight can break out, but this is also rare. Adolescent bull African elephants may harass or kill Cape buffalo, either out of territorial aggression or while in musth; when they do this, the calves are most likely to be killed by the elephant attack as they are defenseless when facing an elephant alone, whereas adults will try to fight back and may survive (or succumb to injuries afterward). The average-sized Nile crocodile typically attacks only old solitary animals and young calves, though they can kill healthy adults. Exceptionally large, old male crocodiles may become semi-habitual predators of buffaloes. The cheetah, leopard, African wild dog and spotted hyena are normally a threat only to newborn calves, though larger clans of hyenas have been recorded killing cows (mainly pregnant ones) and, on rare occasions, full-grown bulls. Large packs of wild dogs have been observed to hunt calves and sick adults. Diseases , Tanzania The African buffalo is susceptible to many diseases, including those shared with domestic cattle, such as bovine tuberculosis, corridor disease, and foot-and-mouth disease. As with many diseases, these problems remain dormant within a population as long as the health of the animals is good. These diseases do, however, restrict the legal movements of the animals and fencing infected areas from unaffected areas is enforced. Some wardens and game managers have managed to protect and breed "disease-free" herds which become very valuable because they can be transported. Most well-known are Lindsay Hunt's efforts to source uninfected animals from the Kruger National Park in South Africa. Some disease-free buffaloes in South Africa have been sold to breeders for close to US$130,000. ==Social behavior==

Herd size is highly variable. The core of the herds is made up of related females, and their offspring, in an almost linear dominance hierarchy. The basic herds are surrounded by subherds of subordinate males, high-ranking males and females, and old or invalid animals. African buffaloes engage in several types of group behavior. Females appear to exhibit a sort of "voting behavior". During resting time, the females stand up, shuffle around, and sit back down again. They sit in the direction they think they should move. After an hour of more shuffling, the females travel in the direction they decide. This decision is communal and not based on hierarchy or dominance. When chased by predators, a herd sticks close together and makes it hard for the predators to pick off one member. Calves are gathered in the middle. A buffalo herd responds to the distress call of a threatened member and tries to rescue it. and chasing lions up trees and keeping them there for two hours, after the lions have killed a member of their group. Lion cubs can get trampled and killed. In one videotaped instance, known as the Battle at Kruger, a calf survived an attack by both lions and a crocodile after intervention of the herd. Males have a linear dominance hierarchy based on age and size. Since a buffalo is safer when a herd is larger, dominant bulls may rely on subordinate bulls and sometimes tolerate their copulation. The young males keep their distance from the dominant bull, which is recognizable by the thickness of his horns. If the sparring is for play, the bull may rub his opponent's face and body during the sparring session. Actual fights are violent but rare and brief. Calves may also spar in play, but adult females rarely spar at all. During the dry season, males split from the herd and form bachelor groups. During the wet season, the younger bulls rejoin a herd to mate with the females. They stay with them throughout the season to protect the calves. Some older bulls cease to rejoin the herd, as they can no longer compete with the younger, more aggressive males. The old bachelors are called dagga boys ("mud covered"), and are considered the most dangerous to humans. Vocalizations African buffaloes make various vocalizations. Many calls are lower-pitched versions of those emitted by domestic cattle. They emit low-pitched, two- to four-second calls intermittently at three- to six-second intervals to signal the herd to move. To signal to the herd to change direction, leaders emit "gritty", "creaking gate" sounds. African buffaloes mate and give birth only during the rainy seasons. Birth peak takes place early in the season, while mating peaks later. A bull closely guards a cow that comes into heat, while keeping other bulls at bay. This is difficult, as cows are quite evasive and attract many males to the scene. By the time a cow is in full estrus, only the most dominant bull in the herd/subherd is there. The maternal bond between mother and calf lasts longer than in most bovids. That bonding ends when a new calf is born, and the mother then keeps her previous offspring at bay with horn jabs. Nevertheless, the yearling follows its mother for another year or so. Males leave their mothers when they are two years old and join the bachelor groups. Young calves, unusually for bovids, suckle from behind their mothers, pushing their heads between the mothers' legs. In the wild African buffaloes have an average lifespan of 11 years but they have been recorded to reach 22 years of age. In captivity they can live for a maximum of 29.5 years though they only live 16 years on average. African buffalo (Syncerus caffer) calf 2 weeks.jpg|Two-week-old red calfAt Kazinga Channel in Uganda African buffalo (Syncerus caffer) calf 2 weeks suckling.jpg|Two-week-old calf sucklingAt Kazinga Channel in Uganda African buffalo (Syncerus caffer caffer) juvenile head.jpg|CalfAt Chobe National Park in Botswana Cape Buffalo calf.jpg|Female with red calfAt Ngorongoro Conservation Area in Tanzania ==Relationship with humans==

poses with a Cape buffalo he shot in 1953. Status The current status of the African buffalo is dependent on the animal's value to both trophy hunters and tourists, paving the way for conservation efforts through anti-poaching patrols, village crop damage payouts, and CAMPFIRE payback programs to local areas. The African buffalo is categorized as "Near Threatened" by the IUCN, with a decreasing population of 400,000 individuals. While some populations (subspecies) are decreasing, others will remain unchanged in the long term if large, healthy populations persist in a substantial number of national parks, equivalent reserves and hunting zones in southern and eastern Africa." In the past, numbers of African buffaloes suffered their most severe collapse during the great rinderpest epidemic of the 1890s, which, coupled with pleuro-pneumonia, caused mortalities as high as 95% among both livestock and wild ungulates. Being a member of the Big Five game group, a term used to describe the five most dangerous animals to hunt, the Cape buffalo is a sought-after trophy, with some hunters paying over $10,000 for the opportunity to hunt one. The larger bulls are targeted for their trophy value, although in some areas, buffaloes are still hunted for meat. Attacks One of the Big Five game, the African buffalo has been nicknamed "the Black Death" or "the widowmaker" due to it being widely regarded as a very dangerous animal. African buffaloes are notorious amongst big-game hunters in particular as very dangerous animals, with wounded animals reported to ambush and attack the hunters. African buffaloes are sometimes reported to kill more people in Africa than any other animal, although the same claim is also made of hippopotamuses and crocodiles. These numbers may be somewhat overestimated; for example, in Mozambique, attacks on humans, especially fatal ones, were much less frequent than those by either hippos or, especially, Nile crocodiles. Conversely, in Uganda, large herbivores were found to both attack more people on average than either lions or leopards, and to inflict a higher rate of fatalities during those attacks (almost 50%) than the felids. However, both hippos and elephants may still kill more people per annum than buffaloes. In August 2025, Asher Watkins, a 52‑year‑old American rancher and trophy hunter, was killed by a Cape buffalo he was tracking during a safari in Limpopo Province, South Africa. Reportedly, the buffalo charged Watkins at approximately , resulting in fatal injuries. Domestication The Cape buffalo has been bred with the Indian water buffalo to produce the Jafarabadi buffalo breed. ==See also==