Sometimes, when a disagreement grows too big for diplomacy, the only way to clear the air is to ready up a great big pair of horns and wield them against your opponent.
Graeme Mitchley caught these two buffalo bulls on camera doing exactly that. While what caused the disagreement between them is unknown, it was only going to be settled when one of them was forced into submission.
Locked Into Battle
At the very beginning of Graeme’s footage, the two enormous buffalo managed to get their horns almost instantly locked together. Fighting for these animals usually consists of butting each other with the hardened horn “plate” across their heads, called a boss.
They were both trying to break free of the other so they could start this process of headbutting, but the points of their horns looked quite firmly wedged in each other’s ears, which can’t have been a comfortable situation for either of them.
Meanwhile, the rest of the herd looked on in apparent resignation that the fight was happening, before deciding to leave these two to go at it for however long it took them.
Clash Of The Titans
Eventually they manage to break free of the lock, and the fight can begin in earnest, and what a fight! Both of these animals are so big that even lions will often bring numbers when they’re trying to bring one down.
Their immense size and weight translates into a lot of force they can throw around, and then their headbutts land there is an immense impact which throws up a considerable amount of dust.
There are a few reasons that bulls might come into conflict like this. Just like many herd animals, there is a hierarchy and being a more dominant male comes with its own set of privileges, although non-dominant males can still mate.
Bulls might also fight as a form of game, although this instance didn’t seem particularly playful. It is rare, but sometimes one buffalo might genuinely be trying to hurt the other, rather than forcing it into submission, but doing so could weaken the herd.
Back And Forth And Back Again
It’s most likely that these two bulls were fighting for dominance, but the fight seemed to be a stalemate, with neither of them appearing to be particularly stronger than the other.
They moved back and forth over a fairly central spot, neither one of them able to gain much ground. For several moments, neither one of them was willing to back down, either.
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Behold The Victor
When victory finally came, it was so sudden that even the winner seemed a little surprised. The vanquished buffalo just turned and ran with no indication that it was losing.
The winner looked after the loser for a moment, before turning to face the camera and standing with a wide stance, basking in the glow that came with its newfound dominance, for not only had it defeated its foe, it had done it without even realizing it had won.