African buffalo

African buffalo Temporal range: 0.7–0 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓ Middle Pleistocene-Holocene
Cape buffalo (S. c. caffer) at Chobe National Park, Botswana with a Cattle egret atop it
Forest buffalo (S. c. nanus) at Réserve Africaine de Sigean, France
Conservation status
Near Threatened  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Artiodactyla
Family:	Bovidae
Subfamily:	Bovinae
Genus:	Syncerus
Species:	S. caffer
Binomial name
Syncerus caffer (Sparrman, 1779)
Subspecies
S. c. caffer S. c. nanus S. c. brachyceros S. c. aequinoctialis S. c. mathewsi
Range of the commonly accepted forms of the African buffalo

The African buffalo (Syncerus caffer) is a large sub-Saharan African bovine.^[2] There are five subspecies that are recognized as being valid. Syncerus caffer caffer, the Cape buffalo, is the nominotypical subspecies, and the largest one, found in Southern Africa and East Africa. S. c. nanus (the forest buffalo) is the smallest subspecies, common in forest areas of Central Africa and West Africa, while S. c. brachyceros is in West Africa and S. c. aequinoctialis is in the savannas of East Africa. The adult African buffalo's horns are its characteristic feature: they have fused bases, forming a continuous bone shield across the top of the head, referred to as a "boss".

The African buffalo is more closely related to other buffalo species than it is to other bovids such as American bison or domestic cattle, with its closest living relative being the Asian water buffalo.^[3] Its unpredictable temperament may be part of the reason that the African buffalo has never been domesticated, which would also explain why the African buffalo has no domesticated descendants, unlike the wild yak which is an ancestor of the domestic yak. Natural predators of adult African buffaloes include lions, African wild dogs, spotted hyenas, and Nile crocodiles. As one of the Big Five game animals, the Cape buffalo is a sought-after trophy in hunting.