At this point, I don’t know why any living being would try to get the best of a buffalo or bison.
Both animals and idiot humans often challenge bison and buffalo, and the jury is still out as to why people feel so confident around these big beasts. While we’re talking about both of them, we might as well explore the differences between the two.
I feel like bison and buffalo can be easily confused, so allow me to clear things up. First off, bison have a hump in their back, while buffalo do not. However, buffalo do tend to have longer horns than bison, though they aren’t as sharp.
The biggest difference for the two animals is where they call home: Bison live in colder climates, whereas buffalo live in warmer areas of the world.
And just for good measure, one of them has a wing sauce named after them (and a subsequent “wild” restaurant), and the other does not. That should clear it all up for those who were wondering about the differences.
As for those people who just came to this story to see a lion get rag-dolled by a water buffalo, we’re getting to it, I promise. I just wanted to make sure that people didn’t watch this and share it saying “dang, take a look at what this bison did to this lion.”
In the video below, a sitting water buffalo is under attack as a lioness tries to tear into the helpless beast. We don’t know how bad the situation was, but we soon found out that the other water buffalo in the area were not going to stand for having one of of their herd mates attacked.
Another buffalo comes running out of nowhere to launch a counterattack on the lion, and I’d say it went really well for the horned animal, and not so well for the lioness. The water buffalo gets low (low buffalo wins) and uses its long horns as a launchpad, hooking the lion and sending it cartwheeling up into the air.
The big cat lands hard as the water buffalo goes in for seconds like a Thanksgiving dinner, using the same exact move (pick up lion with horns and throw it) with the same amount of success as the first time.
It’s probably safe to assume that the lioness moved on to other “possible meals” after this. What was supposed to be a quick and easy attack turned into a impromptu (and painful) gymnastics session for the big cat.
Shoutout to the herd mates of the sitting water buffalo for stepping in and intervening. Just goes to show you that it never hurts to have good friends around, especially if they are capable of throwing a full-grown lion 15 feet into the air.
Take a look:
