Battle at Kruger

[quote]g’em wrote:
BigRagoo wrote:
NAUn wrote:
First saw this on ABC Evening News then checked out the real video. Pretty coincidental too, considering about a week and a half, two weeks, before I was at Busch Gardens in Tampa FL and saw some Cape Buffalo. They are big as hell, but no where near the size of a rhino… now a rhino vs. lion battle would be something worth seeing.

You are correct that the buffalo aren’t as big as rhinos, which can weigh a couple tons. However what makes the buffalo a bit more dangerous is that it has much better eye sight than a rhino. You have to be pretty close for a rhino to see you good enough to charge, whereas a buffalo can see quite well yards away and will charge if threatened.

It’s a pretty close call as to which are more dangerous between buffalo and rhino. Both animals have terrible eyesight, but rhinos have their eyes at the side of their head, so their binocular vision is particularly limited. Buffalo also have terrible hearing, but a remarkably strong sense of smell, whereas rhinos have both a great sense of smell and hearing - you can see their ears twitching around like sonar dishes.

Both animals have a maximum running speed of around 35 miles per hour and could easily outrun a lion, but are slow to accelerate and that’s one of the reasons a buffalo can become prey for lions at all.

Size-wise an average male buffalo will be around 1800lb, but bigger, older males can get up to 2000lb. Their horns, which have a bony core covered by a keratin layer (the same stuff that makes up our hair), can span up to a metre. They are inquisitive and aggressive by nature, and alongside hippos and crocodiles are responsible for the most human deaths by wild animals in Africa, particularly among game hunters. Stories are told about wounded animals coming to stalk their hunters!

There’s five species of rhino in the world, but for arguments’ sake if you limit it to the African species that would live side-by-side with the buffalo, there’s two to choose from: the white rhino and the black rhino. The white rhino is a more sociable, placid species, but the bigger of the two, a male easily reaching about 6000lb in weight. It has two horns, both made of dense keratin strengthened by calcium deposits (no bone) with the bigger one around 150cm big. The black rhino is a solitary animal, typically around 2500lb, the larger of its two horns around 40-50cm, but highly aggressive and will treat virtually anything as a threat - it’s not uncommon to see them attacking tree stumps. But white rhinos share this aggressive streak too if they or their young appear to be threatened by anything.

As far as how they use their weaponry - a buffalo’s horn is generally only used for show and for inter-species dominance displays, it’s hard for them to manipulate them easily to be used for defense whereas the rhino horn is routinely used for digging and fighting and could easily do huge damage to a lion.

But to cut a long story short… my money would be on the rhino over a buffalo every time.

Sorry for the nerdling input - I’m a zoologist, random animal facts is my job =)

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Damn, G’em dropping some knowledge. Interesting stuff, thanks

Push, that’s some funny stuff.

I can’t believe you people find animals fighting one another entertaining. Stop the animal on animal fighting! It is time to bring nature to justice!

[quote]pushharder wrote:

Think of the name you could make for yourself as you would probably have endless opportunities to lecture at some of the world’s greatest universities and symposiums as a result of your unique and novel horn size research on the “intriguing” North American Diceros unicornis Pushiticus.[/quote]

International prestige; the discovery of a previously unknown mammal; the opportunity to study said animal exclusively to investigate reported physiological appendature that defies the laws of natural science… you do realise that reads like erotic literature for a biologist? It’s a nerdling wet-dream on paper.

Now I’m getting that warm, fuzzy feeling…

[quote]g’em wrote:
Sorry for the nerdling input - I’m a zoologist, random animal facts is my job =)

[/quote]

Hey, I’m a zo major, so I let the nerdling fly all the time.

i have actually been there during a study abroad when i was in college. funny thing is we never saw a lion.

[quote]g’em wrote:
They are inquisitive and aggressive by nature, and alongside hippos and crocodiles are responsible for the most human deaths by wild animals in Africa, particularly among game hunters. Stories are told about wounded animals coming to stalk their hunters!

[/quote]

I’ve heard a lot about hunters getting chased by buffalo they shot, but didn’t kill.

Funny about the hippos too. I know they suprise a lot of canoers by knocking them over and mauling them. And with a mouth that opens as wide as there’s, it’s a deadly trap.

woohoo!! a fellow zoologist - unleash the nerdlingness!!

[quote]BigRagoo wrote:
Funny about the hippos too. I know they suprise a lot of canoers by knocking them over and mauling them. And with a mouth that opens as wide as there’s, it’s a deadly trap.[/quote]

Yup, hippo’s are mean - highly, highly territorial and protective over their young, regularly weighing in at over 7000lb, and with four massive canines each around the length of a human forearm and a bite pressure that could cut you in two without effort - you do NOT want to piss off one of these guys.

But just incase one were to find themselves in the path of a stampeding hippo, or rhino for that matter, one of the most effective methods of escaping is simply to allow the animal to get within about ten feet of you… and then take a couple of big strides to the side. They’re big, but not very agile, and turning at top speed is virtually impossible for them so move out of their line of sight and they won’t be able to decelerate fast enough to follow you. Easy!

[quote]g’em wrote:
woohoo!! a fellow zoologist - unleash the nerdlingness!!

BigRagoo wrote:
Funny about the hippos too. I know they suprise a lot of canoers by knocking them over and mauling them. And with a mouth that opens as wide as there’s, it’s a deadly trap.

Yup, hippo’s are mean - highly, highly territorial and protective over their young, regularly weighing in at over 7000lb, and with four massive canines each around the length of a human forearm and a bite pressure that could cut you in two without effort - you do NOT want to piss off one of these guys.

But just incase one were to find themselves in the path of a stampeding hippo, or rhino for that matter, one of the most effective methods of escaping is simply to allow the animal to get within about ten feet of you… and then take a couple of big strides to the side. They’re big, but not very agile, and turning at top speed is virtually impossible for them so move out of their line of sight and they won’t be able to decelerate fast enough to follow you. Easy![/quote]

Yeah, I don’t want to be on the business end of a Hippo’s tooth. They give a new meaning to the word impale.

Haha, and I’ll take your word on dodging a rhino. I don’t plan to ever be in the path of one. I kinda value my life a bit more than to “ole” a mammalian tank.

[quote]pushharder wrote:
g’em wrote:
…and turning at top speed is virtually impossible for them so move out of their line of sight and they won’t be able to decelerate fast enough to follow you. Easy!

A word to wise blond, Irish lassie zoologist:

The above won’t work with the North American Diceros unicornis Pushiticus.[/quote]

Trust me, g’em. He’s right. He’s way too agile for this to work if he’s chasing you. He’s gored me practically every time he’s made the effort.

[quote]pushharder wrote:
g’em wrote:
…and turning at top speed is virtually impossible for them so move out of their line of sight and they won’t be able to decelerate fast enough to follow you. Easy!

A word to wise blond, Irish lassie zoologist:

The above won’t work with the North American Diceros unicornis Pushiticus.[/quote]

Well I would have assumed that to be the case - heaven forbid the North American Diceros unicornis Pushiticus would ever slow down his pace at all…

[quote]meesuspush wrote:
pushharder wrote:
g’em wrote:
…and turning at top speed is virtually impossible for them so move out of their line of sight and they won’t be able to decelerate fast enough to follow you. Easy!

A word to wise blond, Irish lassie zoologist:

The above won’t work with the North American Diceros unicornis Pushiticus.

Trust me, g’em. He’s right. He’s way too agile for this to work if he’s chasing you. He’s gored me practically every time he’s made the effort.[/quote]

As long as you keep making him chase in the first place that’s what counts though eh? :wink:

[quote]meesuspush wrote:
pushharder wrote:
g’em wrote:
…and turning at top speed is virtually impossible for them so move out of their line of sight and they won’t be able to decelerate fast enough to follow you. Easy!

A word to wise blond, Irish lassie zoologist:

The above won’t work with the North American Diceros unicornis Pushiticus.

Trust me, g’em. He’s right. He’s way too agile for this to work if he’s chasing you. He’s gored me practically every time he’s made the effort.[/quote]

Yeah, but come on, you let him catch you at least a couple times, right? :wink:

Man, I was so PUMPED when that huge buffalo herd came back to fight the lions!

That was awesome!

On a practical note,and living in Africa,I have a couple of friends that are pro hunters.The unanimous choice as to the more dangerous (for them )between the buff and the rhino is the buff…and that was an awesome vid!!

Great vid, thanks. I loved it when the lion was gored and flipped like a pancake and of course the herd coming to the rescue was awesome.