Talk:African buffalo/Archive 1

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Only when they have no choice, they have to prey on buffaloes. If they have access to wildebeest and zebra etc, they say goodbye to the beast. A single lion is nothing against the buffalo, so the big cat never attempts to take on this powerful prey alone. Hic, on "lions behaving badly" show on NGC, 4 male lions have to cooperate to kill an adult buffalo. is that convincing enough?

Buffaloes have killed many lions in fact. Recently, there is an article on NGM titled: relentless enemies. The author, who observed these 2 animals for years, said that a pride of lions has been reduced to only 2 now because of hunting buffaloes. Most of the pride members died by hooves or horns.

I saw that article. It dealt with lions and buffalo on a single (though rather large) island. Three prides of lions live there, and the one the article focused on eats buffalo *exclusively*. The article ended with a photo of the battered members of one of the other prides, and the caption said all but two of them had since been killed by buffalo. There was no indication that the main pride was dying out, though the article acknowledged that members were occasionally injured or killed while hunting. While most lions may only hunt buffalo when they're desperate, that it not true of all lions.
I also once saw a wildlife documentary in which a herd of buffalo happened upon a pride of lions that had just eaten. The lions weren't interested in hunting so soon after a big meal and probably couldn't exert themselves much while digesting so much food, so they were content to let the buffalo pass them by. The boss of the buffalo had other ideas, though. He decided to attack the lions and the others joined him in the effort. They managed to kill most of the pride's cubs (6 out of 9, I think). The adults fought back fiercely, but it was in vain and they had to retreat after each parry; they were heavily outnumbered and were more likely to be killed than to bring down even one of the herd. When it was over the buffalo walked away with just some scratches.

Actually not only the articles. This husband and wife team spent 2 years producing the 2 hour TV show: Relentless enemies, which indicates a pride has been reduced to doom by hunting buffaloes. In 1 fight with a bull, 6 lionesses attack, and after the fight ends, only 3 remain. This + the article make me certain that one of the 3 prides is now dying. ~~S~~

buffalo in zoo

has anyone seen a cape buffalo in zoo? How tall and how big is it?

I've never seen one in the zoo, but I saw plenty of these things when I went to Kruger earlier this year, they are fairly large, although I can't make an exact estimate —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.36.153.163 (talk) 14:06, 24 August 2010 (UTC)

What they eat

Does anybody know what they eat? I've been looking for what Cape Buffalos eat but I can't find it!!! If you want to write about animals, please tell what they eat!!!

Mostly grass, but some tree leaves, and fruit if they can get it. Steve Dufour 06:26, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

Speed

I don't think cape buffalo can run at 56 km/h. If you have watched enough scences of lions hunting buffaloes, you'll realize that it's a very slow animals, that's why the lions have no problem catching one. They run like pigs, very heavily. Cape buffalo also doesn't defend themselves effeciently, their hind legs are too heavy to deliver flying kicks like the bison and other long legged cattles; their horns are too curved, leaving a very narrow range of strike. That's why lions can kill cape buffaloes

Lions out-accelerate buffalo. Buffalo are very heavy and take a while to get to full speed, but buffalo with room to run unimpeded can hit 56. Most of the time when being chased by lions though, they don't have time to accelerate to full speed before the lions are on them. The lions accelerate far faster, that's why they usually catch up. Sheep81 00:36, 2 June 2007 (UTC)


You misinterpreted the "very narrow range of strike". Yes, the horns are curved, but the thing is, they don't strike with horns parallel to their assailants, rather, they swing their head from side to side creating a "hooking effect". Other than that, they can strike with the boss(or bose?) of their horns with astonishing strength. A direct hit in the chest can promptly stop your heart from beating leading to cardiac failure. I agree with the fact their hooves are not used as weapon. So far, I haven't seen one kicking a lion with their hind legs. The only probable instance of inflicting damage via the hooves is when they accidentally step on their attackers, in which case, their weight is the contributing factor. Other than that, if they are indeed kickers, then predators need worry even if attacking from behind. Elk(Wapiti) can kick and gore,which reasons out that wolves are extremely wary even when attacking from behind. Buffaloes have killer horns, but an attacking pride can take down one by hamstringing it. Had they had a formidable kick, odds are, they will be extremely difficult to hunt. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.177.74.138 (talk) 18:05, 27 August 2008 (UTC)

Danger

<Maybe someone can do a better job of sourcing some of the claims made here. I'm sure the animal can be dangerous but we need to support that statement.JBEvans 18:24, 2 April 2007 (UTC)

Requested move

The following discussion is an archived discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

The result of the move request was: page moved. Vegaswikian (talk) 01:49, 15 April 2010 (UTC)


African Buffalo → African buffalo —Relisted pending further discussion about animal names.-- PeterSymonds (talk) 11:49, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

African Buffalo → African buffalo — incorrect type case Stephan Leeds (talk) 01:55, 29 March 2010 (UTC)

Actually, this is more complicated and controversial for animal species names—see Wikipedia:WikiProject Animals. I'm not sure this should be moved, yet. —innotata 20:54, 6 April 2010 (UTC)

No, this is still a controversial matter at the appropriate subproject—see Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Mammals,. The manual of style etc. don't mandate this at all. —innotata 13:54, 13 April 2010 (UTC)

I don't think the pages you've pointed out really explain this, but I suppose this can be moved, now that most but not all of the text uses this. I think one-off moves like this should not happen to begin with. —innotata 13:56, 13 April 2010 (UTC)
The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

This sentence has no sense at all

Be clear in what you intend to mean with the sentence: "Its dimensions are relatively small, especially compared to other buffalo, found in Cameroon , which weigh half as the South African subspecies (bull weighing 600 kg is considered to be in these places are already very large)." —Preceding unsigned comment added by 2.81.220.14 (talk) 10:04, 19 April 2011 (UTC)

Two types of bachelor herds

From the Social Behavior section:

During the dry season, male buffalo will split from the herd and form bachelor groups. There are two types of bachelor herds: ones made of males aged 4-7 years and those of males 12 years or older.

Does this mean that those 8 to 11 years remain with the main herd?

Heavenlyblue (talk) 03:34, 8 July 2011 (UTC)

request removal of hunting photo

this photo might be a good example of a successful hunt, but is not helpful or relevant to the article. (would fit well in the hunting article) placing this photo in the page creates the impression that wikipedia users endorse hunting for fun, which given the NPOV status of wiki should not be! there a plenty of pics of the water buffalo so why do we need a picture of a "big brave boy with his great big gun" next to a dead buffalo? doesn't even provide a sense of scale as all you can see of the boy is his smug face. can someone please remove it or provide a good reason for it to stay. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 188.220.151.59 (talk) 16:37, 29 February 2012 (UTC)

I agree. I removed the photo. Frankster200277 (talk) 10:04, 15 April 2012 (UTC)

etymology of taxonomical name?

What is the origin of the species/subspecies name "caffer"? Is it from "Cape" as in "Cape buffalo" via Grimm's law or something similar, from the Dutch/Afrikaans racial/ethnic slur kaffir (as suggested by the fact that the darkest of the subspecies gets the reduplication in its subspecies name), or ... ?

70.169.149.207 (talk) 14:54, 26 December 2012 (UTC)

File:Syncerus caffer african buffalo skull MNHN.jpg to appear as POTD soon

Hello! This is a note to let the editors of this article know that File:Syncerus caffer african buffalo skull MNHN.jpg will be appearing as picture of the day on August 16, 2013. You can view and edit the POTD blurb at Template:POTD/2013-08-16. If this article needs any attention or maintenance, it would be preferable if that could be done before its appearance on the Main Page. Thanks! — Crisco 1492 (talk) 23:30, 28 July 2013 (UTC)

African buffalo skull
The skull of the African buffalo (Syncerus caffer), a large African bovine. It has a long but stocky body and short but thickset legs, resulting in a relatively short standing height. The adult bull’s horns, as shown here, have fused bases, forming a continuous bone shield known as a "boss".Photograph: Jebulon
Archive – More featured pictures...

Size and Ancestry

The afr. buffalo is the oldest and biggest (potentially) bovine of all , when the vast sahara was green (ten thousands of years ago) a lot of large mammals went out of Africa to the near east and india (they followed the southern coast line), for e.g. rhinos elephants and archaic bovines etc. The difference is some went to south the others went to north east afr. and beyond. so they are cousins separated for a long time (since the sahara was arid). You don't need to proof, its obvious, until needed fossils are found or dns evidence are gained to proof that complex history, we can anticipate that fact. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 93.129.227.14 (talk) 16:26, 13 August 2013 (UTC)

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