Photography by Kimberly Maurer
No one knows exactly what caused this battle, but it was incredibly short and one-sided. Rhino Africa’s Kimberly Maurer was en route to her Masai Mara campsite when her guide spotted a small herd of elephants near a dozing buff.
“As we were watching the elephants grazing and moving toward us, the Cape buffalo raised his head and stood up, which must have been a threatening movement for the elephants,” Maurer told Rhino Africa’s Matthew Sterne.
The cow raised her trunk and let out a trumpet, at which point the buffalo moved forward to meet the elephant. The elephant immediately gained the upper hand. The cow drove her single tusk into the buff before flinging it into the air. Despite a Cape buffalo’s weight of 1,000 to 2,000 pounds, the elephant had no problem getting Black Death airborne.
“We were in complete shock as she then bent down and literally skewered the buffalo with her single tusk and lifted it straight up over her head with her tusk protruding from the other side of the buffalo,” Maurer said.
The three calves watched from a short distance as their mother settled things with the buffalo, then the four moved a short distance away and watched to make sure it posed no further danger to them. The buffalo stood for a few seconds, blood pouring from its wound, then stumbled a short distance and died. The satisfied elephants then moved away.
The whole series of events was over in seconds. Maurer’s camera began stamping photos at 10:22:58 (hours, minutes, seconds) and stopped when the elephants left at 10:23:46.