Cape buffalo

Cape buffalo, (Syncerus caffer caffer), the largest and most formidable of Africa’s wild bovids (family Bovidae) and a familiar sight to visitors of African parks and reserves. The Cape buffalo, a subspecies of the African buffalo, is the only member of the buffalo and cattle tribe (Bovini) that occurs naturally in Africa. The geographic range of the Cape buffalo extends from southern Ethiopia and South Sudan to South Africa. (The forest, or red, buffalo, S. caffer nanus, a much smaller and less familiar subspecies, inhabits forests and swamps of Central and West Africa.)

What’s the Difference Between Bison and Buffalo?

Physical description

The Cape buffalo is not very tall—it stands only 130–150 cm (51–59 inches) tall and has relatively short legs—but it is massive, weighing 425–870 kg (935–1,910 pounds). Bulls are about 100 kg (220 pounds) heavier than cows, and their horns are thicker and usually wider, up to 100 cm (40 inches) across, with a broad shield (only fully developed at seven years) covering the forehead. The coat is thin and black, except in young calves, whose coats may be either black or brown.

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Natural history

One of the most successful of Africa’s wild ruminants, the Cape buffalo thrives in virtually all types of grassland habitat in sub-Saharan Africa, from dry savanna to swamp and from lowland floodplains to montane mixed forest and glades, as long as it is within commuting distance of water (up to 20 km [12 miles]). To sustain its bulk, the Cape buffalo must eat a lot of grass, and therefore it depends more on quantity than quality. It is able to digest taller and coarser grass than most other ruminants, has a wide muzzle and a row of incisor teeth that enable it to take big bites, and can use the tongue to bundle grass before cropping it—all bovine traits.

When grass is scarce or of too poor quality, buffaloes will browse woody vegetation. Their preferred habitat includes refuge from heat and danger in the form of woodland, thickets, or reeds, pastures with medium to tall grass (preferably but not necessarily green), and access to water, wallows, and mineral licks. The largest populations occur in well-watered savannas, notably on floodplains bordering major rivers and lakes, where herds of over 1,000 are not uncommon. On a floodplain in Zambia’s Kafue National Park, the average herd was 450, with a range from 19 to 2,075.

Extremely gregarious, buffaloes are one of the few African ruminants that lie touching. Herds include both sexes and live in traditional, exclusive home ranges. Clans of related females and offspring associate in subgroups. A male dominance hierarchy determines which bulls breed. All-male herds are predominately old and sedentary, as are lone bulls. Calves are born year-round, after a nine-month gestation. Though weeks pass before calves can keep up with a fleeing herd, they do not go through a hiding stage but follow under their mothers’ protection as soon as they can stand. Herds also cooperatively defend members; they put to flight and even kill lions when aroused by distress calls.

Threats and diseases

The International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) has classified the Cape Buffalo as near threatened since 2018. Like most of the planet’s large terrestrial mammals, the Cape buffalo is threatened by habitat loss and land use changes by humans. The conversion of wild grasslands and forested areas to human settlements or agricultural developments, as well as competition with ever-increasing numbers of cattle for essentially the same feeding niche, has affected population numbers in many places. The animals are also favored for their meat and by big game hunters, and poaching has been a major contributor to their declines in national parks and other areas. Cape buffalo are susceptible to drought, which caused substantial losses in the 1960s and 1990s; both the frequency and severity of droughts in the region are expected to be exacerbated by anthropogenic climate change.

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The Cape buffalo is immune to some diseases that afflict domestic cattle in Africa—in particular, the bovine sleeping sickness (nagana) transmitted by tsetse flies. However, it is still susceptible to a number of cattle-borne diseases. In the 1890s a rinderpest plague swept the African continent from Ethiopia to the Cape of Good Hope and killed up to 90 percent of the buffalo, as well as many antelopes. Although buffalo populations recovered over the next decades, they have continued to suffer from periodic outbreaks of rinderpest, foot-and-mouth, and other diseases to which both buffalo and cattle are susceptible. Rinderpest was eradicated globally in 2011.