African buffalo pair arrives at Mysore zoo
Thiruvananthapuram zoo donates them as part of an exchange programme
A pair of African buffaloes (Syncerus Caffer) arrived on Wednesday from the Museums and Zoos, Thiruvananthapuram, in exchange for two Indian Gaurs and a pair of Red Jungle Fowl.
The Mysore Zoo is housing the African buffalo, also known as Cape Buffalo, for the first time. The length of the animal is 170 to 340 cm, with a shoulder height of 100 to 170 cm.
The buffalo weighing between 300 kg and 900 kg, has a tail length of 70 to100 cm, said a release from the Chamarajendra Zoological Gardens, Mysore.
Rajan, the male buffalo, is aged about 12 and was brought to the Thiruvananthapuram zoo from the National Zoological Park, New Delhi, in 2004. Bindu, the female buffalo, was born in the Thiruvananthapuram zoo on February 9, 2001.
In the zoo, it is fed wheat bran, rice bran, groundnut cakes, plantains, carrot, cut branches, paddy straw and green grass. The buffalo is being temporarily housed in the zebra enclosure. A new enclosure is under construction, and it will take two to three months for completion.
The colour of the buffalo varies from dark brown/black to bright red. The body is heavyset with stocky legs, a large head and short neck. There are no distinct marks on the body, although the body colour of forest buffaloes tends to darken with age and may thus have dark patches mingled with the red-base colour. The ears are large. Both male and female have horns.
The gestation period is 340 days and the litter size is one and rarely two. The animal attains puberty at 3.5 to 5 years of age. The life span of the African buffalo is 18 to 20 years and lives for 25 years in captivity, the release said.
The African buffaloes breed during the rainy season. At birth, the calf is lighter in colour than the adults. It may be active throughout the day and night. On an average, the buffaloes spend 18 hours a day foraging and moving. They need slush or swamp environment and prefer to stay near water sources.
They live in large herds of 50-500 animals; old males may be solitary. The diet is grass and the main predators are lions and crocodiles. They are found in a variety of habitats, including open savannahs, woodlands and rainforests, said the release.
