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The African buffalo ( Syncerus caffer) is a large sub-Saharan African bovine.
The adult African buffalo's horns are its characteristic feature: they have fused bases, forming a continuous bone shield across the top of the head, referred to as a "boss".
The African buffalo is more closely related to other buffalo species than it is to other bovids such as American bison or domestic cattle, with its closest living relative being the Asian water buffalo. Its unpredictable temperament may be part of the reason that the African buffalo has never been domesticated, which would also explain why the African buffalo has no domesticated descendants, unlike the wild yak and wild water buffalo which are the ancestors of the Yak and water buffalo. Natural predators of adult African buffaloes include , African wild dogs, , and . As one of the Big Five game animals, the Cape buffalo is a sought-after trophy in hunting.
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 64.5 inches 164 cm). 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 domestic cattle and bison are unable to create hybrid offspring with cape buffalo.
| Southern and East Africa. |
| Forest areas of Central and West Africa. |
| West Africa |
| Central Africa. |
| mountainous areas of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda and Uganda. |
Other than humans, African buffaloes have few and are capable of defending themselves against (and killing) . 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.
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 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 may become semi-habitual predators of buffaloes.Graham, A. D. (1968). The Lake Rudolf Crocodile ( Crocodylus niloticus Laurenti) Population. Masters of Science Thesis, The University of East Africa. 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.
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 Predation, 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. A calf's distress call gets the attention of not only the mother, but also the herd. Buffaloes engage in mobbing behavior when fighting off predators. They have been recorded killing lions 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.
Adult bulls spar in play, dominance interactions, or actual fights. A bull approaches another, lowing, with his horns down, and waits for the other bull to do the same thing. When sparring, the bulls twist their horns from side to side.Sinclair, A. R. E. (1977) The African Buffalo. Chicago, The University of Chicago Press. 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. Two types of bachelor herds occur: ones made of males aged four to seven years and those of males 12 years or older. 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.
Cows first calve at five years of age, after a gestation period of 11.5 months. Newborn calves remain hidden in vegetation for the first few weeks while being nursed occasionally by the mother before joining the main herd. Older calves are held in the centre of the herd for safety. 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've 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.
At Kazinga Channel in Uganda
African buffalo (Syncerus caffer) calf 2 weeks suckling.jpg|Two-week-old calf suckling
At Kazinga Channel in Uganda
African buffalo (Syncerus caffer caffer) juvenile head.jpg|Calf
At Chobe National Park in Botswana
Cape Buffalo calf.jpg|Female with red calf
At Ngorongoro Conservation Area in Tanzania
The African buffalo is listed 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 continue to persist in a substantial number of national parks, equivalent reserves and hunting zones in southern and eastern Africa."
In the most recent and available census data at continental scale, the total estimated numbers of the three savanna-type African buffalo subspecies ( S. c. caffer, S. c. brachyceros and S. c. aequinoctialis) are at 513,000 individuals.Melletti M. and Burton J. (eds). 2014. Ecology, Evolution and Behaviour of Wild Cattle: Implications for Conservation. Cambridge University Press
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 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.
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