โ† All matchups
๐Ÿƒ
Cape buffalo
Syncerus caffer
Mammals ยท Near threatened
vs
๐Ÿ…
Tiger
Panthera tigris
Carnivores ยท Endangered

One clip names both of them

111,114 views between them.

Cape buffalo outweighs Tiger 5.0ร— โ€” 646 kg against 129 kg. Both figures are averages across males and females.

To scale

Grid at 50 cm

50 cm
1 m
1.5 m
2 m

Silhouettes: PhyloPic โ€” Jan A. Venter, Herbert H. T. Prins, David A. Balfour & Rob Slotow (vectorized by T. Michael Keesey) (CC BY), Gabriela Palomo-Munoz (CC BY-NC); others CC0.

Cape buffalo
1.35 m
at the shoulder
Human
1.70 m
full standing height
for scale
Tiger
0.91 m
at the shoulder ยท measured standing
Tale of the tape
Body mass
646 kg
๐Ÿƒ Cape buffalo ยท COMBINE
129 kg
๐Ÿ… Tiger ยท COMBINE
Shoulder height
1.35 m
๐Ÿƒ Cape buffalo
0.91 m
๐Ÿ… Tiger
Body length
2.96 m
๐Ÿƒ Cape buffalo ยท COMBINE
2.31 m
๐Ÿ… Tiger ยท COMBINE
Top speed
55 km/h
๐Ÿƒ Cape buffalo
54 km/h
๐Ÿ… Tiger
Bite force
no figure yet
๐Ÿƒ Cape buffalo
1,525 N
๐Ÿ… Tiger
Maximum lifespan
30 yr
๐Ÿƒ Cape buffalo ยท COMBINE
26 yr
๐Ÿ… Tiger ยท COMBINE

Bars are sized against the larger of the two figures. Bite force figures come from individual studies and vary a lot between sources.

Animals caught on camera

Real footage of the animals on this site โ€” hunting, fighting, and getting on with it.

See all 1 videos โ†’
Shared ancestry

The closest group they share is Laurasiatheria (superorder), home to 4,193 species.

They last shared an ancestor about 64 million years ago.

Estimates range from 58 to 76 million years; the figure above is the middle estimate.

About this estimate

Dates from Upham, Esselstyn & Jetz 2019, PLoS Biology 17:e3000494 (CC0).