ZOOLOGISTS say the African buffalo is one of the most successful grazers in Africa, the buffalo is not an ancestor of domestic cattle and is only distantly related to other larger bovines.
From time in history owing to its unpredictable nature, which makes it highly dangerous to humans, the African buffalo has never been domesticated.
They don’t trust anybody and to show this habit, while on route to Moyowosi river a herd of about 35 African buffaloes arrives at an open grassland near Morungu and finds a carcass of lion’s cub lying on the ground.
The group spends some seconds scanning the whole area, after being abandoned by its mother who saw it weak and unable to meet the challenging situation of the savannah. With a lot of curiosity a buffalo sniffs it and tries to bite the dead body of their greatest enemy in the wild before others come and snatch it from her mouth and kick it vigorously from one side to another.
Zoologists say this was done to express feelings against their bitter enemy in the savannah and the action was done until they were satisfied their victim was completely dead then they proceeded with their journey.
In huge number, African buffalos roam from one side to another of the vast Moyowosi and Kigosi game reserves covering a total area of 13,000 square kilometres.
The African buffalos are also found in Selous game reserve where one of the furious contingent dwells. In all national parks across Africa, lions and buffaloes are greatest enemies, whoever is found in or around his enemy’s territory must be beaten to death.
With a body measuring between 1.52 to 1.86 meters weighing from 1,200 to 1,700 kilogrammes, the American buffalo is the largest bovine in the wild.
The humble water buffaloes of India, Pakistan, Vietnam, Myanmar, Nepal, China, Bangladesh and Pakistan rank second with 900 to 1,200 kilogrammes and are domesticated, producing nutritious milk to farmers.
Weighing between 900 to 1,000 kilogrammes, the African buffalo is the smallest but dangerous bovine who attacks and kills its victims using very hard and heaviest sharp horns called Boss capable of tearing apart most of its targets.
Not only other animals in the wild are falling victims of these deadly horns but a strong matured bull will brutalise young and weak male buffalo who is interested with female members in its troop. Zoologists say this is done by a strongest male who wants to maximise the chance of breeding with all cows, thanks to the ranking system among buffaloes.
In 1993 Celina Aloyce who was a standard seven pupil of Ayalabe Primary School in Karatu lost her father after being killed by an African buffalo. Nobody can tell what happened but, after several days of searching, his mutilated body was found in the middle of the forest with all marks of being crushed to death by an African buffalo.
These stories and others from the Africa’s jungle indicate that it’s better to come across a hungry lion rather than a wounded buffalo who will run and crush you to death. Cape or African buffalos are capable of defending themselves and kill their enemies by applying different defensive and aggressive methods.
African buffaloes are quite social with their fellow buffaloes only and harsh to others in the wild especially predators.
To protect themselves in the wild buffaloes apply different methods but union is the best and effective mechanism against dangerous and smart predators like lions and men. Mostly they graze and rest together but sometime chase away a member with bad aggressive behaviours.
Harsh and undisciplined older males fall victim of this act forcing them to stay lonely and come under attacks of lions. When travelling female, calves and weaker members are placed in the middle of a group while strong males protect them against predators from all sides.
This act which shows buffaloes will stand and fight for all, they have very powerful sniffing nose capable of detecting a presence of an enemy in their neighbourhood. Sometime they will sneak rapidly into a group of lions sleeping within their territory to kill or push them far away, by this act of offence they are able to protect themselves.
A group of about 300 individuals may rest by sitting in one direction for escape when under attack but sometime weaker and young fall victims of this tactic because of lack of speed.
When a lonely member comes under attack from lions, he will try to protect himself by facing predators from all directions while calling a help from others. This method is effective because lions attack them from behind so to stop them from doing it they go for them face to face without fear.
In case of lack of a helping hand, a buffalo will confront lions until an escaping gape is created which he will run through while shrugging off those who try to bring him down by hinging on his big body.
When a group is running from an attack, one may be isolated by lions for a kill but the rest in a group will turn around to rescue him, this is done by charging while holding their heads for attack.
Placed on big and strong heads their horns are ready made weapons used to hit and crash their enemy to death.
The horns are made up by strong bones capable of stopping bullets from a riffle to penetrate. With a length of about 40 centimetres, from the base horns grow sideways then bend downward and smoothly curved up and outward in a sharp pointed form able to penetrate and tear most of its victims.
All these make almost impossible for a lioness to kill a full grown buffalo but some time in a group with more than five individuals may try successfully to kill a lonely old bull. In Moyowasi and national parks and game reserves the job of hunting and killing buffaloes is done by lions in the night, with their bodies weighing above 200 kilogrammes they jump on top to bring them down for suffocation by lionesses.
Lions are mammals that have eyes which have the same level like human eyes during day light but at night these apex predators see eight times more than human being. Scientists say lions see mainly in blue and greens environment, with highly developed night vision, this doesn’t mean they can see in the dark because if they work on a pitch black they will be blind.
Lion’s eyes are designed to work effectively in darkness where they are able to pick and use very little light available even from stars and moon. In an open area inside Tarangire, Ruaha, Mikumi national parks or others with savannah grassland, among predators this is a complex procedure which employs different methods.
Lions have more rod cells than cone cells in the retina of the eye, these are photoreceptors or light sensitive cells, and they function to convert visible electromagnetic radiations or light into signals which stimulate biological process.
Lion’s eyes are equipped with two photoreceptor cells which are rods and cones, each of these cells contributing information used by the visual system to form a representation of the visual activities. Cones cells are wider which work as colour detectors while rods cells are narrow and they are responsible for light as they are distributed differently across the retina.
This shows that lions have more light sensitive cells packed tightly in the fovea which is the most sensitive area of the retina, this means their eyes need little amount of light to see something in the darkness than human eyes.
Lions have what is known as a Tapetum lucidum, this is a reflective layer of cells positioned behind the retina.
This means that light entering into the lions eye will be absorbed by either the rod or cone cells, light that passes through the retina and the photoreceptor cells is reflected back by the Tapitum lucidum while the light sensitive cells have a second chance to absorb the light waves, in effect doubling the effectiveness of their night vision.
Despite of many people’s belief, lion’s eyes do not glow in darkness, but they contain a special reflective coating that will reflect even moonlight. Scientists say lions have big eyes, this reflective layer results in the eerie or eye shine which is seen when a light shine on lion’s eyes at night is also found in other mammals in the savannah except a rhino whose eyes don’t have eye shine.
Outside each eye of lions, there are white patches which are located under each eye and work to enhance a little amount of light available while enabling the super predator to work effectively at night.
To work successfully at night, lions also use their powerful nose with high sense of smell which is capable to pick small particles in the air and effectively sniff them while sending clear message to the brain which translate them.
From this point a lion will use the direction of wind to detect where a herd of wildebeest is hiding inside the vast grassland of Serengeti national park.
To walk toward this hidden location which may be in the middle of a huge bush, lions employ their whiskers or vibrissae which are larger and longer than other hairs around the mouth.
Whiskers grow out of very sensitive tissues which are able to detect small movement in the air, this ability helps lions to recognise its way to the intended location without a clear sight. Whiskers or vibrissae hair is usually thicker and stiffer than other types of pelagic hair but, like other hairs, their shaft consists of an inert material known as keratin which contains no nerves.
However, vibrissae are different from other hair structures because they grow from a special hair follicle incorporating a capsule of blood called a blood sinus which is heavily innervated by sensory nerves. Lion’s whiskers are able to pick heart beats of a prey which helps its brain to picture out size and type of the intended prey.
As they walk toward their prey at night, lions use whiskers to detect obstacles and avoid aggravating their prey until when they reach a good or strategic position for an attack. Scientists say all these features enable the lion to be the only enemy of the African buffalo in the savannah.
Lions are capable of organising a platoon of seven to ten lionesses each weighing approximately 120 kilogrammes with a helping hand from a lion to bring down a bull whose weight may reach 1,000 kilogrammes.
Knowing the heavy price they may be forced to pay, lions will pursue an unpredictable and dangerous prey for a long distance and spend a lot of energy and time lasting up to eight hours because they know if the mission is accomplished the reward is good.
Lionesses are believed to be one of smart animals in the savannah because they know if they manage to kill a buffalo they will be capable of feeding the whole pride.
After killing a full grown African buffalo weighing a tone a group of female or lionesses will drag the dead body to the pride territory where every member will participate in eating.
This is a special ritual whereby the male who is the pride defender is allowed to eat first followed by cubs before the lionesses are allowed to join the banquet.
Normally lions in one sitting lasting less than an hour they will eat quickly then go resting under a shade of tree then they will continue until every member is fed up after consuming 30 kilogrammes of meat. In the world, Tanzania is leading with the largest population of these two giant rivals with Maasai steppe having a strong population of lions in the whole of Africa in Selous game reserve and Maswa game reserve.
Lions do not hunt and kill buffalo because of arrogance or anything related to it, this makes man to be the only potential threat to buffaloes, through economic activities we cause loss of habitat when we reduce forests and Savannah grasslands where they dwell.
rstanslaus@yahoo.com
