African Buffalo (Syncerus caffer): Cape Buffalo Facts

Cape buffalo and forest buffalo: one species, four forms

The African buffalo is the only living member of the genus Syncerus. Despite the name, it is not closely related to the domestic water buffalo of Asia, and it is a different animal from the American bison, which is often called a buffalo in North America (see bison vs buffalo).

Buffalo vary so much across Africa that they rank among the most variable of all African mammals. The IUCN currently recognizes four subspecies:

• Cape buffalo (S. c. caffer): the largest and darkest form, found in eastern and southern Africa.
• West African savanna buffalo (S. c. brachyceros): from Senegal east to Cameroon.
• Central African savanna buffalo (S. c. aequinoctialis): from Chad and the Central African Republic to South Sudan and Ethiopia.
• Forest buffalo (S. c. nanus): the smallest form, living in the rainforests and forest clearings of Central and West Africa.

Genetic studies show two main lineages: the Cape buffalo in the east and south, and the West and Central African populations, including the forest buffalo. Experts still debate exactly how many subspecies should be recognized.

What does an African buffalo look like?

The African buffalo is a heavily built animal with a broad chest, a thick, muscular neck, fairly short legs and large hooves, with the front hooves bigger than the back ones. The ears droop and are fringed with long hairs, and the tail ends in a dark tuft. Adult Cape buffalo are dark brown to black, and old bulls often lose much of their hair.

The horns are the trademark. Both sexes have them, but in adult Cape buffalo bulls the bases grow together across the forehead into a continuous shield of horn and bone called the boss. The horns sweep down and out, then curve up and inward toward the tips. The boss grows heavier with age, which is one way guides tell a mature bull from a young one. Cows have smaller, thinner horns with a strip of hairy skin between them.

Forest buffalo look rather different. They are reddish brown to rusty, sometimes with dark patches, and have small horns that point backward, with no boss. Their ears carry long tufts of pale hair.

How big is an African buffalo?

Size depends strongly on the subspecies and the sex.

The West and Central African savanna buffalo fall between these two extremes. Despite its bulk, a buffalo can run at roughly 50–55 km/h (31–34 mph) for short distances.

Where do African buffalo live?

African buffalo once lived across most of sub-Saharan Africa. Today they are found in scattered populations from Senegal and Ethiopia south to South Africa, mostly inside national parks, game reserves and hunting areas around them. Tanzania holds the largest number, estimated at more than 240,000 animals in 2021.

Buffalo use a wide range of habitats: open savanna, woodland, floodplains, swamps and montane grassland. The forest buffalo lives in rainforest and the mix of forest and grassland at its edges, often grazing in natural clearings. What all populations need is grass and water. Buffalo drink regularly, typically every day or two, so they rarely live far from rivers, lakes or permanent pools. They usually avoid areas with less than about 250 mm (10 in) of rain a year.

What do African buffalo eat?

African buffalo are herbivores and mostly grazers. They eat large amounts of medium to tall grass, roughly 6.5–15 kg (14–33 lb) of vegetation a day, and spend around 17–19 hours a day feeding and ruminating (chewing the cud). They feed mainly in the early morning, the late afternoon and at night, and rest in shade through the hottest hours.

Because they can cope with tall, coarse grass that many other grazers avoid, buffalo herds open up the grassland for species such as zebras and wildebeest that prefer shorter grass. In the dry season, when grass becomes tough and less nutritious, buffalo also eat sedges, reeds and the leaves of shrubs. Forest buffalo graze in clearings and along streams and also eat herbs and other plants of the forest floor.

Herds and social life

Savanna buffalo live in mixed herds of cows, calves and young animals, joined by adult bulls. Herds in West and Central Africa average a few dozen animals, while Cape buffalo on the floodplains of eastern and southern Africa can form herds of 1,000–2,000. Forest buffalo live in much smaller groups, usually of about 3–25 animals.

Large herds regularly split into smaller groups and merge again. Researchers in Lake Manyara National Park, Tanzania, described a form of group decision making often nicknamed “voting.” Before the herd moves off in the evening, adult cows stand up, gaze in a particular direction and lie down again; the herd then tends to move in the direction most of them faced.

Young males leave the herd at around four or five years old. Bulls have a dominance order, and they settle most disputes with displays and short sparring bouts rather than serious fights. Older bulls past their prime often leave the herds and live alone or in small bachelor groups. In southern Africa these old males are nicknamed “dagga boys,” from a local word for mud, because they spend so much time wallowing. Buffalo are usually quiet animals, but they communicate with grunts, bellows, snorts and coughs.

Reproduction and calves

In many areas, most calves are born during the rainy season, when grass is green and nutritious. Dominant bulls do most of the mating. After a pregnancy of about 11 months (around 340 days), the cow gives birth to a single calf, which can stand and follow the herd within hours.

Calves are reddish brown to tawny at first and darken with age. They suckle for many months and are usually weaned between about 10 and 18 months old. Females typically have their first calf at about five years old. Males are sexually mature at five or six but rarely get the chance to mate before they are around seven or eight and strong enough to compete.

Wild buffalo live about 12 years on average, and a few reach 20. In captivity they can live nearly 30 years.

Predators and defense against lions

Adult buffalo have few natural predators. Lions are by far the most important, and in some parks they kill many buffalo every year. Nile crocodiles sometimes take adults at the water’s edge. Calves are also hunted by spotted hyenas, leopards and African wild dogs.

Buffalo are famous for fighting back. When a herd member is attacked, especially a calf, other buffalo often charge the lions, and adult buffalo kill or injure lions surprisingly often. Learn more about these encounters in Do buffalo fight lions? and in our profile of the lion.

Threats and conservation status

The IUCN Red List classifies the African buffalo as Near Threatened, with a decreasing population, in its most recent assessment (2019). That assessment estimated around 400,000 mature animals. Numbers have grown or held steady in parts of southern Africa, such as South Africa, Namibia and Mozambique, but have fallen in many other areas, especially in West and Central Africa.

The main threats are:

• Poaching for bushmeat, which can wipe out local herds.
• Habitat loss to farming, livestock grazing and settlements.
• Disease. In the 1890s, the rinderpest epidemic that swept through Africa killed a large majority of buffalo in many regions. The disease was declared eradicated worldwide in 2011.
• Drought, war and weak protection in some protected areas.

Buffalo also carry diseases that can pass to cattle, including foot-and-mouth disease and bovine tuberculosis, which complicates life alongside livestock farmers. In South Africa, disease-free herds have been bred since the 1990s to restock reserves and private land.

Myths and facts

Myth: the African buffalo is a wild version of the water buffalo. The two look similar, but they belong to different genera that split millions of years ago. The African buffalo has never been domesticated.

Myth: buffalo deliberately circle back to ambush people. Hunting stories often claim this. A wounded or cornered buffalo may hide in thick cover and charge at close range, which makes it very dangerous, but there is no scientific evidence of planned ambushes. See Why are Cape buffalo so dangerous? for the real risks.

Myth: buffalo kill more people than any other African animal. This claim is widely repeated, but there are no reliable continent-wide statistics to support it, and hippos, Nile crocodiles and elephants are also responsible for many deaths.

African buffalo and people

People and buffalo have shared the African landscape for a very long time. Buffalo appear in San rock art, are honored as totem animals by several southern African peoples, and feature in masks and dances in West Africa. In many traditions the buffalo stands for strength, courage and danger.

Today the buffalo is one of the headline animals on African safaris and one of the Big Five, alongside the lion, leopard, rhinoceros and elephant. A Cape buffalo appears on South Africa’s 100-rand banknote. Large, peaceful herds at a waterhole are a common sight in parks such as Kruger, Chobe and the Serengeti, and watching them from a vehicle is completely safe when visitors follow the park’s rules.