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Syncerus caffer planiceros
DESCRIPTION Shoulder height 45-50 inches (115-125 cm). Weight 700-900 lbs (320-410 kg).
Smaller than the Central African savanna buffalo, with differently shaped horns. Most horns are rather similar to those of the dwarf forest buffalo, sweeping outward, backward and slightly upward; however, they are longer and heavier. Frontal bosses are absent or minimal. Body color varies from brownish black to reddish to tan, and different colors may be encountered in the same group.
DISTRIBUTION The savanna and woodland zone north of the high coastal rain forest in West Africa, from southern Senegal eastward through northern Guinea, southern Mali, northern Ivory Coast, southern Burkina Faso, northern Ghana, northern Togo, northern Benin, far southwestern Niger, northern Nigeria, and northern Cameroon.
For convenience in record keeping, we use the eastern border of Cameroon to separate the West African savanna buffalo from the Central African savanna buffalo to the east.
TAXONOMIC NOTES In previous editions, the West African and Central African savanna buffaloes were combined as the northwestern buffalo (S. c. brachyceros including planiceros).
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