Face plant- and a deliberate one at that!
These bulls were scent marking their territory, for the usual reasons: to establish dominance, advertise to females, and warn other competing males to stay away from their territory.
Preorbital glands beneath the eyes, when rubbed, release pheromones and other secretions onto the ground, grass and twigs. Pawing on the ground also releases secretions from glands between their hooves. Rolling around afterwards is common, as is scraping their horns against dirt and other vegetation, to the point where the grass is flattened or worn away. This area becomes a ’table’, an area usually chosen in the centre of their territory, and where the bulls will rest and chew cud afterwards. Their turf, their land.
Here’s to the amazing, less-often photographed, but beautiful, beast of the wild.