Syncerus caffer

The African buffalo is a large species of true buffalo native to Sub-Saharan Africa, where it is found in a number of disconnected ranges stretching from south-eastern Senegal through West and Central Africa to South Africa. The adult African buffalo's horns are its characteristic feature: they have fused bases that form a continuous bone shield, referred to as a "boss", across the top of the head. The African buffalo is more closely related to Asian buffalo (Bubalus) species than it is to other bovids such as American bison or domestic cattle. Its unpredictable temperament may be part of the reason that the African buffalo has never been domesticated and has no domesticated descendants, unlike the wild yak and wild water buffalo, which are the ancestors of the domestic yak and water buffalo, respectively. 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, the largest subspecies native to eastern and southern Africa, is a sought-after trophy in hunting.

Syncerus caffer

Charles J. Sharp · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
African buffaloPBDB
Sits inside
SyncerusPBDB
Diet
grazer, browserPBDB, for Bovidae
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Bovidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Artiodactyla

Time the record covers

At least 2.5 million years on record.

The record covers at least 2.58 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 3.6 Mya to 0 Mya.

Pliocene — about 1 of 49 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 26 of 49 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 22 of 49 occurrences3.7–3.6 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.6–3.4 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.4–3.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.3–3.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.1–3.0 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.0–2.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.9–2.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.7–2.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.6–2.5 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences2.5–2.3 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences2.3–2.2 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences2.2–2.0 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences2.0–1.9 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences1.9–1.8 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences1.8–1.6 Mya — about 1 occurrence1.6–1.5 Mya — about 1 occurrence1.5–1.4 Mya — about 1 occurrence1.4–1.2 Mya — about 1 occurrence1.2–1.1 Mya — about 1 occurrence1.1–957 ka Mya — about 1 occurrence957 ka–820 ka Mya — about 1 occurrence820 ka–683 ka Mya — about 1 occurrence683 ka–547 ka Mya — about 1 occurrence547 ka–410 ka Mya — about 1 occurrence410 ka–273 ka Mya — about 1 occurrence273 ka–137 ka Mya — about 1 occurrence137 ka–0 Mya — about 27 occurrences2.58 Mya11.7 ka4.1 Mya0 Mya

49 occurrences of Syncerus caffer on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

49 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

5 formations

Nachukui — 4.21°N, 35.78°EMbuga Clays — 3.88°S, 33.70°EKapthurin — 0.50°N, 36.00°ERietputs — 28.53°S, 24.47°EMakapansgat — 24.20°S, 28.95°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Syncerus caffer has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 43 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Syncerus caffer and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Syncerus caffer and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

397 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 49 sites for Syncerus caffer, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

35 references

Each of the 49 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 23 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content4

Picture of Syncerus caffer

Credit
Charles J. Sharp
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D scan

Licence
CC0 — this site’s default, not the record’s
Commercial use
the licence allows it
Specimen
Syncerus caffer

Structured light scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Syncerus caffer · FMNH:Mammals:101983

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Credit
zmmu
Licence
CC Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
Commercial use
the licence does not allow it

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itSyncerus through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Sparman 1779)