Cape buffalo

Syncerus caffer (Sparrman, 1779)

Scene:  Waterhole near the Tana River, Kenya

Also present:  giraffe,
savanna elephant,
Vulturine Guinea Fowl—Acryllium vulturinum,
Sandgrouse—Pterocles sp.

Sponsors:  Maurice A. Machris and the Tom and Valley Knudsen Foundation

Background artist:  Duncan Alanson Spencer (1911-1999)

Range:  Sub-Saharan Africa.

Habitat:  Grassy glades, water courses, and waterlogged basins.

Status:  Common over much of its range but declining in west and central Africa.

Diet:  Grass.

        The Cape or African buffalo is the largest African antelope and can weigh up to 2000 lbs. It has few natural predators other than man. Lions will attack only old, sick or immature buffaloes and leopards will attack only newborn calves.

        The buffalo is one of the “big five game animals” (the other four being elephant, lion, leopard and rhinoceros). For hunters, it is the most dangerous of the five.

Further information about this species may be found on the Animal Diversity Web page for African buffalo.

Back to African Mammal Hall