Getting the chance to see a Buffalo give birth is amazing but seeing its calf’s adorable first steps, wobbling along getting a hang of life, is the best!
Seeing a wild animal take its first wobbly steps is truly something to behold. 37-year-old Sales Manager, Brett Reisen, was privileged enough to have witnessed a miracle birth of a baby buffalo in the Sabi Sands.
According to Latest Sightings, many animals in the African bush time their births in the rainy season, so as to maximize chances of survival.
“We were watching a pride of 12 lions near Savanah and drove off heading back to the camp when we came across a herd of over 100 buffalo (less than a KM away from the lion).
We were watching them for a few minutes and one of the people that were with us noticed the one cow that was about to give birth. It seems like she held off pushing the calf out for a while until she was comfortable with us around.
The whole birth took around 15-20 minutes, and she did it all alone. Births are when animals are in a very vulnerable state from predators, so the act is built to be a very fast one.
The herd came over to see the new calf but then walked on leaving mother and calf to fend for themselves. Thankfully, the new family were safe and sound.
“The strange thing is that the herd came to see the calf and headed off, offering her no protection. What was also amazing was the number of oxpeckers that appeared to be lined up on the cows back.
It was also amazing to see how attentive the cow was (it seemed like she was walking away to try to encourage the calf to get up) every time the calf tried to stand up how she almost ran to help every time the calf fell.”
It was such an excitement to be able to see the calf being born, better than seeing any animal hunting. We had to try to keep our distance to ensure the cow was comfortable with us around. This was truly an amazing experience!”
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You can watch the cute video below.
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