Counting in Africa
by Counting On Africa Publishers
Cape Buffalo
The Cape buffalo is a very robust and powerful animal, with a reputation for having a very bad temper! Herds of Cape buffalo can often be found in numbers well into the hundreds. These are typically made up of females and the young. The herds are often trailed by a few grumpy old males. Weighing up to nearly 900kgs and equipped with a hard head of horns, the buffalo is an incredibly dangerous species, even for big predators like lions, who are often injured or killed trying to take this species down.
DID YOU KNOW?
The shield formed by the horns on a male buffalos head is called a "boss"
Buffalos can travel in herds of up to several hundred.
Baby buffalo are light brown in colour and slowly get darker with age.
The shield formed by the horns on a male buffalos head is called a "boss"
Buffalo Conservation
Although Cape buffalo are considered "Least Concern" in terms of their conservation status, their numbers are declining across the continent. Suitable grazing habitat for these creatures is shrinking, meaning more and more people are coming into conflict with buffalo looking for grazing areas. Outside of protected areas, buffalos are considered dangerous destroyers of crops. They are also known to break fences and spread diseases to domestic cattle.
Some animals, like cows, can get very sick from a bad desi called bovine TB. But some other animals, like buffalo, can have this germ in their bodies and not get very sick. They can live for a long time and look healthy even with the germ. These animals are called ‘maintenance hosts’ because they can keep the germ alive in them. Even though these animals look healthy, they can give the germ to many other animals that live with them or near them. This makes the germ a big problem that can last for a long time.
Here are some reputable organisation links, where you can read more about the buffalos and their conflict with humans.
