Buffaloes and elephants usually get along, but on the rare occasion that these massive mammals clash, things can get dramatic in a hurry. Just ask Kimberly Maurer, a tourist who snapped these bizarre photos while on a recent safari with Rhino Africa in Kenya’s famed Masai Mara.
Shortly after entering the reserve, Maurer and her tour group spotted a small herd of elephants led by a female with a missing tusk. “As our vehicle pulled forward a bit, we noticed a Cape buffalo asleep under a bush about 20 feet from the road,” Kim told Rhino Africa’s Matthew Sterne. Their tour guide suggested that the unusually lethargic buffalo appeared to be sick or injured.
”As we were watching the elephants grazing and moving toward us, the Cape buffalo raised his head and stood up, which must have been a threatening movement for the elephants,” Maurer explains. In a good ol’ fashioned mammal joust, the behemoths bashed heads. At an obvious size disadvantage, the buffalo came off second best and fell to its knees, defeated.
That’s when things got really crazy. Unwilling to relent, the single-tusked elephant lowered her head and went straight for the buffalo. “We were in complete shock as she then bent down and literally skewered the buffalo with her single tusk and lifted it straight up over her head with her tusk protruding from the other side of the buffalo,” Maurer recalls. “She slammed the buffalo back on the ground and backed up. She then herded her family to the other side of the road and continued to trumpet at the mortally wounded buffalo.”
The entire incident lasted less than a minute and left the buffalo with severe wounds, which proved fatal just a short while later. The reasons for the assault are unclear – and strangely enough, this is not the first elephant-on-buffalo attack we've seen recently. Last year, this grim footage emerged from South Africa’s Kruger National Park, although the attacker there may have been a male elephant in musth, a state of pumped-up aggressiveness that adult males enter come breeding season.
We're not entirely sure what motivated this matriach's brutal behaviour, but we'd definitely advise staying out of her way. You've made your point, mono-tusk.
Predator vs Prey
Animal Behaviour
Animal Behaviour
