Due to its unpredictable behavior, the African buffalo is known as
one of Africa's most dangerous animals. Welcome back to our channel and Safari Self-Drive.
Known as the ghosts of Pilanesburg, we're very excited to share this rare
sighting of African buffalo which includes a few head-butting tussles in a small bachelor herd.
You may be familiar with the term, the big five, these are the five animal species in Southern
Africa that are the most difficult and dangerous to hunt on foot.
Hunting these animals was considered quite an achievement by trophy hunters
as many lost their lives while hunting them. The African buffalo is one of the big five.
The large bovine will attack and pursue aggressors,
and herds are very defensive of their members.
The reason they are called the ghosts of Pilanesburg is that they usually only occur
in what is called the Wilderness area of the park. This is an area where there is no road access,
so a sighting of buffalo over the last 20 years is unique and very special.
As you can see the African buffalo,
more specifically the cape or savannah subspecies, is a large cow-like herbivore.
Mature males, or bulls, stand up to over five feet at the shoulder and weigh up to over 1 900 pounds.
Cape buffalo are not territorial but a rank does exist within the herd.
Specifically adult and sub-adult bulls that are ranked by age and physical condition,
so size and strength.
It takes females four years and males five years to complete horn development,
which are used for defense and to determine dominance for mating.
As young bulls grow, their horns thicken at the base to eventually join,
forming the unified boss at the top of their head. Skin and hair is gradually lost over the boss.
By two years of age the horn is halfway to meeting in the center,
and the bony ridge developing to support the developing boss becomes visible.
The boss is completed and the outer layer is gone around five years of age.
Middle aged bulls between 8 and 10 years old display ridges on the boss of their horns,
and have developed the typical thick neck.
Bulls older than ten years show wear and possibly breakage of their horns,
and heavy scarring as well as hair loss on their face and body.
Did you know that the horn span of a bull can exceed four feet?
As seen here, bulls often head-spar,
a milder form of fighting that has the general appearance of play, to establish dominant status.
Cape buffalo are social and congregate in herds ranging from a few individuals to over a thousand.
They form two types of herds: large mixed sex mixed age herds, sometimes called breeding herds,
and small all-male bachelor herds like this one.
Never discount seeing the cape buffalo, they provide stunning safari highlights.
Thanks for watching! Feel free to comment and share this,
and other Ultimate Safari videos.