The same question goes for other large herbivores and predators.
ISTM that the buffalo tries to fight back using horns alone, which is difficult because the lions move around pretty quickly, and also because the horns are not so well shaped for goring. But I would think the weight of a buffalo would be pretty devastating for even a lion, and stomping might be a better approach.
Rearing up to stomp a lion would expose the buffalo’s throat and belly to the lion, which would be its most vulnerable point. Attacking head first presents the most well defended part of the body to the lion. And the buffalo can bring its weight to bear by simply ramming the lion and knocking it over; it doesn’t have to gore it. Once a lion is down, then the buffalo may continue to attack with its horns or trample it.
Horned animals like buffalo, cattle, etc. put their heads down and charge. When challenged, they for a defensive front and try to gore. they can run, but that’s not their primary defense. Thus their heads are generally more straight out and level. their bodies are not usually built for easy rearing up.
Horses, OTOH, fight by rearing and striking with their front hoofs. (Hi-ho, Silver!) They also use “run away” as a defense and thus are much faster. Along with “run away” they hold their heads much higher to see danger coming from further away so they can get a head start. Deer, for example, are built similarly and use the same strategy - more front hoof attack than head-butt. (Find interesting videos of deer attacking or defending)
You can watch the video - the lion stays low, and the buffalo uses its main weapon - it’s horns. It can’t seem to do much damage if the lion stays low. The lion, OTOH, is trying cripple the buffalo - the first step in making it tomorrow’s lunch and today’s dinner.
I recall reading an item about cavalry tactics in the Roman and middle ages. A line of pikemen could stop a cavalry charge if they held their line and didn’t run. Horses wouldn’t impale themselves (smart that way) and if an infantryman was down on the ground or standing, the horse did not want to trample him. Big animals that rely on running away do* not* want to step on unsure footing, something wriggling or something squishy - that’s liable to lead to falling down and breaking a leg. Maybe that’s why the buffalo won’t stomp the lion. it’s not their standard fight tactic, and it’s afraid of putting a foot down where there’s not solid footing.
That’s why a horse that breaks a leg gets shot. A wolf or lion with a broken leg can limp from abandoned carcass to abandoned carcass, perhaps, and scavenge enough to survive until the break heals. A horse with a broken leg can’t limp slowly away from danger. it might as well be dead now. it has no instinct to limp…
Strength in numbers - if they are standing together, a lion is unlikely to attack. If one gets separated out, then it’s toast unless it can put up a good defence. But they don’t appear to be aggressive - the buffalo won’t go out an pick a fight. That’s not a good strategy for a herbivore, to pick fights with their predators. Stay in the herd, stand back and let your enemy come to you. You can imagine how effective three or four at once would be against that lion if it did not separate out one of them.
The horns are made for attacking. The legs aren’t made for stomping. And lions can move pretty quickly in the event of an attempted stomping as well as in the event of a attack with horns.
I’m not sure this logic holds – a horse that can’t run might be fortunate enough to not encounter any predators for a while. Let alone what ties this to the human decision to put an animal down.
Well, that and it has no physiology to limp. If it puts extra weight on a leg, the hoof delaminates (like having your finger nails pulled out). And if it doesn’t walk around, it gets circulatory failure: there are blood pumps at the bottom of the legs.
Who’s talking about rearing up? Buffaloes weigh 1,000-2,000 pounds. And their hoofs seem pretty hard and small. I would think they could inflict some serious damage to a lion just by putting their weight on them, let alone forcefully coming down on them.
I would think the head is the most vulnerable part of the body, at close range. Besides containing eyes and mouth, the head is particularly easy for a lion to grab onto with tooth or claw. If you look at the video linked in the OP, the lion was able to do this consistently. The buffalo was reduced to trying to get it’s horns under the lion, which was very difficult for it, and seemed to inflict little or no damage.
Again, watch the video linked in the OP. The lion just lays there next to the buffalo, and the buffalo can do very little. That would have been the perfect time for a stomp, I would think.
I have no idea how you envisage them being able to get their hooves on top of a standing lion without rearing up. They could only bring their hooves to bear once a lion is knocked down, and the best way to do this is to ram it with their heads. Kicking forward or sideways may do some damage but isn’t going to bring the animal’s weight to bear.
The top of the buffalo’s head is well protected by its horns. A leg would certainly be vulnerable if a lion were able to grasp it.
In any case, you can’t rely on a single video. There are many other videos showing buffalo successfully bulldozing lions with their heads.
I’m not sure why you’re asking this question if you’re going to reject the rather obvious answers.
If it’s coming at you full steam it might be hard to grab it. But when they’re already at close quarters, then not so much.
Again, you might be better off watching the video (or any number of other videos out there showing similar) if you’re going to insist on commenting on the subject.
Some of the “obvious” answers seem silly and misinformed.
I suggested in the OP that they might be afraid of falling or being knocked down. Someone else suggested that they might break a leg, and I suppose that might be true as well.
and besides, lions often attack in a pack. stomping one lioness on the ground isn’t going to accomplish much when you’ve got three more with their claws and teeth in your ass.
running is pretty much the prey’s only hope. I remember seeing a nature show some years ago where a few lionesses were pursuing some sort of gazelle, and during the chace the gazelle kicked back and broke one of the lion’s lower jaw. death sentence.
That’s true of most other prey, but not of buffaloes, which frequently stand and fight. But fighting for them frequently involves just jumping around and trying to toss the lions. Problem (among others) is that when there are many lions and one buffalo, it’s a lot more tiring for the buffalo. In that circumstance, stomping a lion - which could possibly incapacitate that one lion and reduce the size of the attacking pack - seems like a much better strategy.
I would think that stomping for a quadruped like a buffalo wouldn’t be very effective unless you reared up to get some weight behind it. Just picking up your foot and putting it down on a lion isn’t going to do any significant damage.
I wouldn’t think a buffalo needs to rear up in order to “get some weight behind it”. As above, it weighs between 1,000 and 2,000 pounds. Lions are much much smaller. And again, the buffalo’s hoof is relatively small, which concentrates the pressure.
This would presuppose buffalo “knowing” that stomping on a lion could hurt it. It isn’t necessarily true, though, that a buffalo would have any awareness that a lion is a thing that can feel pain or be injured (or, indeed, that another buffalo.) The “lowering your head and charging at things” is an instinct, not a learned behavior. So the real question would be “why have buffalo not evolved to instinctually stomp lions?”