AFRICAN BUFFALO – ILL TEMPERED AND DANGEROUS
The African Buffalo, Synceros caffer, is a big and brutal looking animal. From family of cattle,
this beast is much wilder and ill tempered then its docile cousins. The most dangerous and most feared of all wild
cattle, the African buffalo only occurs in Africa.
The African buffalo is a very big and robustly built animal. It has a thick
neck and strong shoulders. With its massive body, it also boasts with a big head and very strong and curved horns.
These horned helmets are also called “boss”. An adult male can stand 1, 7 metres tall at shoulder height. Buffalo
can weigh anything from 300 to 900 kilograms. The males are usually much bigger than the females, and also much
darker in colour. Where the male is nearly jet black the cows can be dark brown or even tawny in colour.
The buffalo prefer savannah and woodlands. In Namibia buffalo are mainly found in the far north east of the
country. Game Parks such as Waterberg plateau Park, Mudumu and Mamili in the Caprivi region, all have small but
healthy populations of African Buffalo. As it is primarily a grazer, it needs areas with enough grass and water to
sustain its massive bulk. As buffalo form part of the cattle family, it is also a ruminant. Grass is plucked with
its mouth, and then passed to the first of 4 stomachs. The cud is regurgitated and chewed again and then finally
passes through the final 3 stomachs, where the food is broken down and utilised by the body.
The social structure of a buffalo herd is relatively stable. It usually consists of females with their off
spring, both male and female. After about 3 years the young bulls will leave the herd and form bachelor herds.
As bulls get older they become solitary animals. The reason for this is that due to their ever increasing size a
bull will not need the defences of the herd anymore, and it can stay in one area for longer periods. The herds with
females and calves usually travel a lot to get to better grazing and water.
Once again breeding only takes place when there are favourable environmental conditions. This is usually with
the onset of the rainy season. Once the cows are in heat they will be approached by bulls and mating will take
place. Between the bulls there is some severe fighting. This is not playing fighting like with other species, but
strong and hard. Buffalo cows usually gestate for about 340 days, and then give birth to a single calf. Once
the calf is on the ground the cow will severely lick it, to strengthen the bond between mother and off spring.
The main predator of the African buffalo is the lion. Safety in numbers is the main
defence of a herd. Add to this the immense set of horns, and the buffalo is more than capable of seeing off any
lion. Many a lion has been killed by buffalo. Calves are the main prey, so if a cow and a calf gets separated
from the herd, there is a good chance that a pride of lions will be able to bring down the calf or the cow.
Cape buffalo also form part of the big five in Africa, and is a much sought after trophy for many a hunter. It is a
dangerous animal to hunt, and even more so when wounded. Large calibre rifles are used, but sometimes
even this has been known to fail. Many hunting stories revolve around this, the fiercest of the wild cattle
species.
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