Do you know about buffalos?

Buffalos are wild, huge and powerful animals with wide horns that keep growing throughout their lives. Female buffalos have longer horns while the males have much thicker ones. Males are very muscular as compared to females.

Buffalos are very heavy. They weigh between 700 to 1,200kg. Females are slightly smaller and lighter. A wild adult buffalo is dark with one or two white marks below its neck, on its tail end, and around its eyes, nose and mouth.

Young buffalos have a lighter skin colour but as they grow they become darker.

Buffalos live in grasslands, forests and woodlands. They like to live near water. They are mainly grazers, feeding in the morning and evenings.

During the midday heat, buffalos wallow (roll around) in water or muddy pools, sometimes almost completely submerged with only its nostrils out of the water. Apart from keeping it cool, wallowing helps to remove skin parasites, flies and other pests.

A herd of female wild buffalos with its young is led by a leader mother buffalo and usually accompanied by a single adult bull. Other males live alone or form bachelor herds of about 10.

Young males fight with each other to show power but avoid serious fighting. They mix with females at mating time.

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