192 THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD 
unknown period, and 1s 
- among the most valuable of 
tame beasts of draught, as 
well as for dairy purposes. 
The various buffaloes usually 
have little hair, especially 
when old, and have flatter 
shoulders than the gaur, 
gayal, or bison. The pairs 
of ribs number thirteen. 
THE AFRICAN BUFFALO 
Great differences in size 
and colour exist in the AFRI- 
CAN BUFFALOES. Whether 
they are separate species or 
not may be doubtful; but 
the small yellow CoNnco 
BUFFALO, with upturned short 
horns, is a vastly different 
creature from the large black 
CAPE BUFFALO. There is also an Abyssinian or brown race of African buffalo, and another in 
Senegambia smaller than the former, and a reputed grey race near Lake Tchad. The Cape 
buffalo is a heavy, thickset animal, all black in colour, with large massive horns covering the 
skull, and nearly meeting in the middle line of the forehead. In height it varies from 4 feet 
10 inches to § feet at the shoulder. This species ranges from South Africa to the Congo on 
the west, and to the region of the Equator on the east of the continent. Firearms, and 
lately rinderpest, have greatly reduced the number of these creatures. They live and feed 
in herds, and, like the Indian species, are fond of the neighbourhood of water, in which they 
bathe, but are not so dependent on bathing and wallowing as the former. 
Fully as formidable as the Indian buffalo, and much like it in habits, the African species 
is quite distinct. It has different horns, broad at the base and curled and tapering at the 
ends. Among the extreme measurements of the Indian buffalo’s horns recorded is one of 
12 feet 2 inches from tip to tip along the curve. Those of the African buffalo are seldom 
more than 6 feet, measured in the same way. By far the greatest number of hunting accidents 
in Africa are caused by the buffalo. Sir Samuel Baker shot a buffalo bull one evening near 
the White Nile. His men actually danced upon the body, when the animal rose to its feet, 
and sent them flying into the river like so many frogs. It then disappeared in the thick 
vegetation. On the following day, supposing that it must have died during the night, thirty 
or forty men, armed with double-barrelled guns, went to look for it. The result was thus 
recorded by Sir Samuel Baker: “They had not been ashore for many minutes when I 
first heard a shot and then a regular volley. My people returned with the head of the 
buffalo and a large quantity of meat, but they also carried the body of my best man, who, 
when leading the way through the high reeds, following the traces of blood, actually stumbled 
upon the buffalo lying in the swamp, and the light guns failed to stop its charge. The 
crooked horn had caught him behind the ear, and, penctrating completely through the neck, 
had torn out the throat as though it had been cut. The savage beast had then knelt upon 
the body, and stamped it into the muddy ground, until it fell beneath the fire of thirty men.” 
The head and body of a male Cape buffalo are 9 feet long. It is stated that the parasite 
conveyed by the tsetse fly remains in the blood of the buffalo (which is not affected by it), 
and that this forms a reserve whence the fly, after sucking the blood of the buffalo, poisons 
other animals. 
Sar : se i as ee 
EUROPEAN BISON 
These wild animals of the Caucasus are very much scarcer than formerly, and are in danger 
of becoming extinct 
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