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This is from the current edition of the African Indaba and shows a different prospective on aging of mature bulls.

AFRICAN INDABA
11 Age Development Of The African Buffalo: The Myth Of The Closed Boss

Ronnie Rowland

Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared in German in “Erongo Verzeichnis für afrikanisches Jagdwild”, No. 1/2011, published and edited by Kai-Uwe Denker (for more details see www.erongo-recordbook.com). Peter Flack assisted with translating the article into English. African Indaba has already published two articles on African buffalo with special emphasis on trophy development and the problematic of present trophy scoring systems. One authored by Kevin “Doctari” Robinson (“Cape Buffalo: Is the SCI Trophy Scoring System Wrong”) and another one by Winston Taylor (“The Influence of Trophy Measurement in Cape Buffalo”), both in African Indaba Vol. 5/3. A year later – after I had watched in Craig Boddington’s buffalo documentary some knowledgeable professional hunters talking about similar reservations as reported by Robertson and Taylor, I felt obliged to analyze the issues again in my own editorial in African Indaba Vol. 6/4. You can download all these articles with many photos from the African Indaba archives at these links and draw compare with Ronnie Rowland’s views in this article as well as those of Kai-Uwe Denker in the next article “Measuring the Horns of the African Buffalo”

Lions are enemy number one for the African buffalo. Even large, mature bulls are not invulnerable, when facing a pride of lions. This is the principal reason that hardly an African buffalo dies of old age; deaths during epidemics and severe drought excepted. In southern Africa and under natural conditions, buffalo rarely reach their allotted life span of 18 to 20 years.

Young bulls attain sexual maturity at the tender age of three; however, superiority in dominance and rutting battles is rarely achieved before bulls reach seven or eight years old.

Their reproductive “prime time” and the zenith of their reproductive activity is not reached before the ninth year and lasts generally until bulls reach their twelfth year. Once past 12, bulls become solitary or join small groups of similarly aged colleagues; they may occasionally, and, possibly as protective move against predators, join up with a breeding herd.

It is, therefore, reasonable to divide buffalo bulls into three age groups when discussing age related characteristics such as the bull’s headgear: those under eight years are clustered in group 1, followed by group 2, the prime bulls between nine and 12 years and, last but not least, those which are 13 years and older are in group 3.

Those of you who hunt buffalo bulls for trophies should take note that bulls under 10 years have probably not yet achieved their full potential and, most importantly, have had little opportunity to pass on their genes. For a trophy hunter, bulls start to become interesting once they reach 10 years and, in particular, once they pass 13 years of age.

The hallmark of the African buffalo bull is its massive boss, on average between 33 and 35 cm (13 to 14 inches) wide although superior bulls may occasionally boast bosses of up to 45 cm (18 inches).

The boss is an important factor when field-assessing the age of a potential trophy buffalo and the intrinsic value of its head gear as a trophy for the hunter. In bulls younger than eight years old, the boss has not fully developed yet, meaning that there are still areas of softer tissue, especially at the frontal edges of the boss above the eyes and between the horns. This softer tissue is called “green” in hunters’ lingo. Such bulls usually show a band of dark hair between the two horns. Green horn tissue can be distinguished from the fully hardened horn tissue by its color; the softer or green tissue is whitish-grey, whereas the hard horn of older growth is much darker.

When field-assessing a buffalo bull, young bulls show prominent, light silver-greyish front corners on the boss. The horn tips of these bulls are sharp and unworn; the coat is usually blackish. Viewed laterally, the bridge of the nose is long, thin and straight and spots of whitish, hairless areas on the face are absent.

Middle-aged bulls – those between eight and 12 years old – show an increasing hardening of the boss which eventually also reaches the lower boss corners above the eyes. The entire horn structure now becomes a dark almost black color, apart from residue remaining from the bull horning vegetation or mud. In this age group the boss gradually obtains a massive vaulted shape of rugose and rough horn material, similar in appearance to old tree bark.

Horn tips star to appear worn caused by the frequent horning of vegetation and mud. The coat becomes more greyish; white, hairless spots appear on the faces of these bulls, in particular below the boss and around the eyes and mouth. The face appears shorter and develops a distinct Roman nose.

The bulls now reach the zenith of both body size and mass. Two other indicators that a buffalo bull belongs to this age group are the brownish-grey bulges of hardening horn material which protrudes from below the boss and the hairless space between the horns.

It is in this middle-aged phase that the bulls become so called Dagga Boys It is also important to realize that these Dagga Boys are the prime breeding bulls in southern Africa. They are mainly found in bachelor groups and join the breeding herds for a short time only either as a protective move or when rutting.

The final phase of horn development in buffalo bulls starts around their 12th to 13th year. The boss is now fully hardened down to the lowest corners, the horn tips are roundish and show abrasions or breaks. The previously rugose and rough boss surfaces increasingly show more and more smooth and polished areas caused by continuous horning.

The whitish, hairless spots on the face become larger and the skin below the boss and in the gap between the horns hardens and appears similar to old, dried-out leather. Body size begins to diminish and the hip bones start to show. The coat appears shaggier with larger hairless areas, making old and healed scars from fighting and predator attacks clearly visible. The leathery area around the anus indicates that the digestive processes are deteriorating.

An important sign of this age group is the continuous broadening of the gap between the horns. Where the myth of the closed boss came from is uncertain. Regardless, the wide spread view that old, mature buffalo bulls must have closed bosses, e. g. without or with only a minimal gap between the two horns is, in my opinion, false. The myth of the closed boss should be laid to rest. It is a fiction and nothing but a made up tale.

Some more food for thought in this connection: In my opinion, closed bosses are, on the one hand, probably the result of genetics and, on the other hand, a distinct sign of a development phase in bulls in the eight to 12 year age bracket. In southern Africa this is rather the exception than the rule. In general, the majority of buffalo bulls show a hairless gap of leathery skin between the horns which become broader with age due to loss of horn material here due to wear and tear. Therefore, a bull with a closed boss is possibly mature but not necessarily old.

My conclusion: The older the buffalo bull, the broader the gap between the horns. Therefore, hunters should not be disappointed if they harvest a bull which does not show a closed boss. Quite the contrary, hunters should be elated when they harvest a bull with a good, leathery gap between fully hardened horns.

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