AnimalvsAnimal
African buffalo (Syncerus caffer caffer) male with a Western cattle egret (Ardea ibis), Chobe National Park, Botswana🐃

Photo: Charles J. Sharp · CC BY-SA 4.0

SpeciesArtiodactylaBovidae
Mammals

🐃Cape buffalo

Syncerus caffer (Sparrman, 1779)

Кафърски бивол (Syncerus caffer) е вид чифтокопитен бозайник, най-едрият представител на семейство Кухороги. Наричан е още африкански бивол и черен степен бивол. Той е единствен представител на род Syncerus и е разпространен само в Африка. За разлика от индийския бивол, представителите на вида не се поддават на одомашняване и са особено опасни и агресивни към човека.

Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Videos
629
Photos
6
Measurements
15
vs you
≈ 10× your weight
Also called
African buffalo, African Buffalo
Conservation status
NTNear threatened

IUCN Red List assessment, 2019.

Population trendDecreasing
Key measurements
Body mass
646 kg
Body length
2.96 m
Shoulder height
1.35 m
Top speed
55 km/h
Bite force
not recorded
Maximum lifespan
30 years
All measurements ↓
Facts and figures

Everything we know about the Cape buffalo

Typical adult figures. Where a value is an estimate rather than a measurement, it says so.

Body mass
646 kg
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Figures vary

  • 700 kgAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: acceptable
Body length
2.96 m
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Shoulder height
1.35 m1–1.7 m · typical range
Details ↓

Range spans all subspecies, so it is wide; not specific to S. c. caffer.

Source: Kingdon 2015, The Kingdon Field Guide to African Mammals · see citation

Top speed
55 km/h
Details ↓

Sprint over a short distance, not a sustained pace. Compilations give 55.44 and 57.02 km/h.

Source: Bejan & Marden 2006, J Exp Biol 209:238 and Christiansen 2002, Zool J Linn Soc 136:685; compiled in Hirt et al. 2017, Nat Ecol Evol 1:1116, Supplementary Data · see citation

Brain mass
583 g
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Maximum lifespan
30 years
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Figures vary

  • 33 yearsAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: acceptable
Generation length
11 years
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Age at maturity
4.6 years
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Gestation
333 days
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Figures vary

  • 331 daysAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: acceptable
Litter size
1
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Figures vary

  • 1AnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: acceptable
Trophic level
Herbivore
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Activity cycle
Crepuscular / mixed
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Home range
64 km²
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Population density
2.99 per km²
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Volume l
646 Laverage
Details ↓

Body mass at ~1.0 kg/L, the density of vertebrate tissue.

average = a mean across sexes or species in a group.

Not recorded for Cape buffalo yet: bite force.

More

More about the Cape buffalo

Closest relative on this site
🦬 American bison — last shared an ancestor ≈ 8.2 million years ago.
Watch them together →
What it eats
leaves, roots and other plants100%
In other languages
Kaffernbüffel (de), búfal africà (ca), buvol africký (cs), Syncerus caffer (es), afrikanpuhveli (fi), buffle d'Afrique (fr) … and 28 more languages

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