African buffalo

African buffalo

The African buffalo (Syncerus caffer), also known as buffalo-Kaffir, buffalo-the-cable, buffalo, black African or buffalo-of-Kaffraria, is a native bovine mammal Africa. Buffalo African, is usually found in the savanna countries across sub-Saharan Africa, though usually confined to protected areas. It is a large herbivore. The adult female reaches 1.60 meters tall and about 500kg 600 kg. The adult male is even higher, reaching about 1.80 meters tall (measurements taken from the floor to the top of the shoulder height) and 900 kg.

The African buffalo though physically similar to common buffalo found in northern cattle in Brazil, is a larger animal and wild. The adult buffalo is very strong, imposing respect even to a group of lions that may cross your path. Besides man, it has a natural predator lion, but even an individual of the herd is able to defend itself by force or the protection of their own. Regularly the number of animals in the herd, the spread on the ground and the lack of protection of older animals, the lions can kill and eat a buffalo, but it requires a group of lions organize and attack a single animal. It is very rare for a lion get hurt seriously or kill an adult buffalo attacking him alone. Other predators like hyenas and leopards, only able to attack a new buffalo and that for some reason is unprotected from the herd.

Currently it is estimated that 900,000 survive, mostly in the savannah of East Africa. The reasons for the decline in population of African buffalo were poaching, the use of their habitat as agricultural fields, dry and the introduction in Africa of pests and diseases. It is now considered an animal out of the risk of extinction due to protection in national parks and private reserves in the regions of the African savannah, but their habitat is decreased in area each year.