Buffalo and oxpecker

In Jan van Riebeeck’s days there were buffaloes roaming free near Table Mountain. Fifty years later there was still a herd between Gordon’s Bay and Hangklip. By 1900 there were some free-roaming buffalo in the Knysna Forest. Early in the twenty first century they only exist in South Africa in game reserves and on game farms (at least in all nine provinces).

Among the African buffalo, Cape buffalo or nyati, zoologically known as Syncerus caffer, both bulls and cows have horns, those of the bulls being bigger. The generic name, Syncerus, is derived from the Greek words sun meaning together and keras meaning animal horn, referring to the closely abutting bases of the horns in the adult male.

The continuous bone shield or boss, the broad base of the horns on the head, is a fearsome weapon when lowered in attack. The distance from the centre to horn tip of an old bull may be up 1,29 m. Don’t even think of taking measurements among the leaders of the herd!

A bull may weigh up to 800 kg, cows about 150 kg less. The young are yellow-brown, the cows and young bulls usually dark brown, old bulls black. Resembling cattle, the buffalo is not the ancestor of domestic cattle.

Also a ruminant, the buffalo is a herbivore, predominantly a grazer, highly efficient in digesting hard fibre grass. They prefer tall grass, capable of digesting drier grass unsuitable for many smaller species. When they have done with an area, trampling the short grass that remains allows for new growth from which other grazers can benefit in open veld.

Mud baths serve sparsely haired old bulls as sunscreen and insect repellent, also for cooling down. The quite social buffaloes form herds of up to 1000 but subdivide when grass is plentiful.

The gestation period for buffalo is about 11 months. The calf stays with the mother for at least two years while receiving milk. She only goes into oestrus again after that. Less than half the calves born reach the age of two years. After that they are comparatively safe in the herd until old age, which arrives at around twelve years.

Buffaloes retain cohesive family structures within the herd. Some members serve as pathfinders to lead the herd to new, good grazing places. By nature migratory and following the food where possible, fences restrict the modern buffalo to smaller domains, a bit like Covid-19 did with people.

Young bulls tend to form bachelor herds of around 30. Old bulls deposed by new leaders may rejoin the big herd, become solitary or also live in small groups. They may become lion food, although lions find buffalo meat not just for the taking, often opting for easier prey.

The proverbial wounded buffalo is the source of hunting and ambush stories wherever this dangerous animal is found in Africa and beyond (Riëtte, 2016; Frost, 1999; Wikipedia).