Buffaloes Cover Body with Mud against Flies
No, my dear, you are wrong this time! Like some little boys, buffaloes do not want to make themselves clean! In fact, the buffaloes go into the stream or the pond to cover themselves with mud! To wallow, as it is called. They do that by rolling in the mud where the water is shallow.
And why do they want to cover themselves with mud? Because of the tormenting flies! Buffaloes of this kind do not have long hair on their necks, like the American buffaloes. In fact, they do not have much hair anywhere on their bodies—just like the ordinary cows which you have seen near your home. So they are very much tormented by the flies.
I have told you that an elephant can "swat" the flies with a bough which he holds in his trunk. But the buffalo has no trunk, and his tail can whisk off the flies for only a yard around. So, what can the buffalo do to guard other parts of his body from the flies?
The only thing he can do is to go down into the mud, roll about, and cover himself with the mud. Then he does not feel the flies at all, even if they swarm all over him. And he need not trouble to work his tail at all, as he is protected all over by the mud.
And when he comes out to feed again, if the sun happens to be very hot at that time, he does not mind it. Why? Because the mud on his body keeps off the sun. So, you see, the mud is useful to the buffalo in two ways.
But now come with me into the jungle while I show you all that the buffaloes do.
You must imagine that I am taking you quietly through the jungle, where the buffalo herd is grazing right ahead of us. We are following them from behind. You must be careful not to make a sound. If you should tread on a rotten twig, the buffaloes would hear the sound as far away as a quarter of a mile.
In another book I shall tell you why all animals that keep their ears close to the ground while they are feeding can hear a sound a long way off.
But now let us hide behind this bush for a minute, and watch the herd. They are eating the grass as they walk along. But do you see the wonderful way in which they are arranged? It is just like the shape of the moon when it is new, that is, something like the letter C, and which we call a crescent.