This tiny buffalo was fresh into the big, wide world, and faced with something the size of an elephant, immediately chose violence. Andrew Cohen sent in the footage and told Latest Sightings the story.
He said they were out for an “afternoon drive, while taking it very slowly, when they came up to a reservoir and decided to stop and watch for a while.”
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It wasn’t long before they spotted the baby buffalo, brand new, tiny, and adorable, as it followed its mother from the bush to the waterhole. It was after that they noticed the elephant, but they couldn’t have guessed how the interaction was about to play out.
Just Saying Hello
Andrew said that the elephant “seemed as if he wanted to interact with them both”, indicating that it approached the buffalo calf and his mother in a non-threatening manner.
The sheer size of the elephant must have been threatening to the baby buffalo, which might not have even seen an elephant before this encounter. The calf also hadn’t yet learnt that it was prey, and its fight or flight response was only pointing to one thing.
Elephants are intelligent and empathetic animals, and it’s entirely possible that this one was genuinely being friendly, but upon seeing the largest land animal on the planet, this calf decided to fight it.
Tiny But Mighty
This calf clearly didn’t care about the size difference; it may as well have been charging a mountain, but it didn’t let any doubts stop it. It was so ferocious in its attack that the elephant was on the back foot.
While the calf didn’t seem to realize its own small stature, the elephant must have been almost painfully aware of its own size, and Andrew described him as “pedalling backward and trumpeting”, no doubt trying to scare the calf away.
It’s unclear if the calf knew how much danger it was in. The elephant wasn’t behaving aggressively, but all it had to do was put one foot in the wrong place, and it could accidentally kill the calf
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An Exasperated Mother
While the calf was busy chasing the elephant, the adult buffalo was very busy chasing her child. Buffaloes are protective of their young in general, and this young one had picked the worst possible fight.
The trio made a comedic sight as they all chased after one another, the elephant trying not to crush the calf, the calf trying to scare away the elephant, and the mother trying to retrieve her errant child.
A Sighting To Remember
Andrew described the encounter as “the best sighting I have ever had in my life.” Seeing an animal as large as an elephant retreat in alarm from the tiny calf was definitely something special.
While many sightings can be quite sad, with desperate animals being torn down by hungry predators, this is a welcome break from the savagery of nature, and a glimpse at a side filled with laughter and amusement.