An angry elephant impales an African buffalo like a shish-kabob, lifting it in the air before savagely flinging it away, during a deadly tusk-to-horn face-off in the Serengeti.
The buffalo had been napping near a bush in Kenya’s Maasai Mara National Reserve when it was startled awake by the approach of the elephant and three of its family members.
Although clearly out of its weight class, the buffalo head-butted the elephant. But the impact staggered the buffalo, and the pachyderm, about six times bigger, retaliated by fatally sinking a tusk into its neck.
The lopsided clash was captured by amateur photographer Kimberly Maurer as she visited Maasai Mara with a tourist group.
“This photograph was, no doubt, a once-in-a-lifetime capture for me,” said Maurer, 56.
Noting the buffalo’s horrible fate, she said, “As you would imagine, his carcass was a meal for another animal or two.”
