Feral Buffalo calf

[Sabyasachi Patra]

This is again from Satyamangalam forests. We were on foot. On our approach the feral buffalo herd ran away. This calf was left behind. It started calling, and the heard immediately answered the call and started coming towards us. I was handholding my lens like a gun. Quickly fired a few shots and ran away.

According to R. Arumugam, these buffaloes were left behind in the forest by their owners in the 1960s. Their numbers have multiplied and in the next 3-4 generations, they have become bold and are completely unafraid of man. They run away from man and also attack people without the slightest provocation. The theory is that they feel that man may again capture them, so they attack man.

Canon EOS 1D Mark II, Canon EF 400mm F2.8 L IS USM, ISO 125, f3.2, 1/160, handheld, full frame.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi
PS: I hope Laxminarayanan has noted the GPS cooridnates.

[Bibhav Behera]

Nice composition. Like it peering from the shrubs. Guess you had to lower the quality slider due to which sharpness has gone a bit down.. Thanks for sharing.

[Lakshminarayanan Nataraja]

Nice capture and the image is sharp considering the fact that how nervous the situation was when the calf started calling and mother & herd started responding. Sabyasachi had the nerve to shoot this image.

More info. on this feral animal:

During the outbreak of rinderpest in 1960s, the local cattle pen owners drove these buffaloes out of their pens fearing that they may contract the epidemic.
Fortunately they did not and survived. They had abundant food in the forests and became wild.

The buffaloes' built is robust and the sweep of their horns resemble their truly wild progenitors - the water buffalo.

They are very aggressive and distrustful. Either they slip away or they confront man. This behaviour is said to be due to the attempts locals have made for recapturing them. Moreover, the locals have often killed them (and more likely continue) for meat. Their aggression is thus justified.

They add to the prey base of tigers, leopards and dholes of the area...

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Bibhav,
Sharpening was turned off in the previous image. So uploading a version that is sharpened. Also, I always upload images that is max 60% quality level. Else, the size is much bigger than 200kb.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Mrudul Godbole]

Nice environment image. The repost looks good. Liked the innocent look on its face. Surely a nice capture in the given conditions. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks Lakshminarayanan for the information.