Good morning...
Thank you for the wonderful support on my elephant yesterday and a huge thank you to Nathan and Myra for their UA's. I am always so grateful to be awarded for my wildlife images.
Today's image is an African Buffalo at the water hole, part of the BIG 5 (The Big 5 is the five most dangerous animals to man especially when hunting them) He looked extremely unhappy. Buffalo kill about 200 people in Africa every year. A male buffalo can reach a shoulder height of between 1 and 1.7 metres. They can weigh up to 700kg. Their horns are unique in that they grow right across the front of their head. It is referred to as a "boss". It is very hard and a lot of times a hunters bullet will not penetrate making them extremely dangerous when hurt. A male's horns can grow as wide as 1 metre in width.
The buffalo discard their old males after about 12 to 14 years as they are no longer of any use to them....yes guys its tough being a male buffalo...they normally form small groups or hang out alone. They do become extremely grumpy. Their hair also becomes very thin, a bit like balding. You can see the flies around him and how thin his hair is. To stop sunburn flies and ticks worrying them they lie in mud pools and cover themselves in thick mud....... Our rangers are very respectful of these old buffalo known as dugga boys.
The females always keep the young between them for protection. Their main predator is lion. Very few lions will take on a buffalo on its own to kill, but their are lion groups that specialize in it. Females are known to have killed lion that try to kill their young.
Its Halfway through the week....have a nice day

V2 is just to show you what they look like covered in mud, an old image taken last year with my Nikon Coolpix

Tags: Wildlife and nature