Thewater buffalo (Bubalus bubalis), also calleddomestic water buffalo,Asian water buffalo andAsiatic water buffalo, is a largebovine originating in theIndian subcontinent andSoutheast Asia. Today, it is also kept in Italy, the Balkans, Australia, the Americas, and some African countries.[1] Two extanttypes of water buffalo are recognized, based onmorphological andbehavioural criteria: theriver buffalo of the Indian subcontinent and further west to the Balkans, Egypt, and Italy; and theswamp buffalo fromAssam in the west through Southeast Asia to theYangtze Valley of China in the east.[1][2]
Thewild water buffalo (Bubalus arnee) is most probably theancestor of the domestic water buffalo.[3] Results of aphylogenetic study indicate that the river-type water buffalo probably originated in western India and wasdomesticated about 6,300 years ago, whereas the swamp-type originated independently fromMainland Southeast Asia and was domesticated about 3,000 to 7,000 years ago.[4] The river buffalo dispersed west as far asEgypt, theBalkans, and Italy; while swamp buffalo dispersed to the rest of Southeast Asia and up to the Yangtze Valley.[5][6][4]
Carl Linnaeus first described the genusBos and the water buffalo under thebinomialBos bubalis in 1758; the species was known to occur in Asia and was held as a domestic form in Italy.[10]Ellerman andMorrison-Scott treated the wild and domestic forms of the water buffalo asconspecifics,[11] whereas others treated them as differentspecies.[12] Thenomenclatorial treatment of the wild and domestic forms has been inconsistent and varies between authors and even within the works of single authors.[13]
In March 2003, theInternational Commission on Zoological Nomenclature achieved consistency in the naming of the wild and domestic water buffaloes by ruling that thescientific nameBubalus arnee is valid for the wild form.[14]B. bubalis continues to be valid for the domestic form and applies also toferal populations.[15]
In the early 1970s, different names were proposed for the river and swamp types of water buffaloes; the river type was referred to asBubalus bubalis bubalis(Linnaeus, 1758), while the swamp type was referred to asBubalus bubalis carabanensis(Castillo, 1971). However,Bubalus carabanensis is considered a junior synonym ofBubalus kerabau(Fitzinger, 1860).[16]
Albino swamp buffalo in Chiang Mai province, Thailand
The skin of the river buffalo is black, but some specimens may have dark, slate-coloured skin. Swamp buffaloes have grey skin at birth, which becomes slate blue later.Albinoids are present in some populations. River buffaloes have longer faces, smaller girths, and bigger limbs than swamp buffaloes. Their dorsal ridges extend further back and taper off more gradually. Their horns grow downward and backward, then curve upward in a spiral. Swamp buffaloes are heavy-bodied and stockily built, with a short body and large belly. The forehead is flat, the eyes are prominent, the face is short, and themuzzle is wide. The neck is comparatively long, and thewithers andcroup are prominent. A dorsal ridge extends backward and ends abruptly just before the end of the chest. Their horns grow outward and curve in a semicircle, but always remain more or less on the plane of the forehead. The tail is short, reaching only to thehocks. The size of the body and shape of the horns may vary greatly among breeds. Height at the withers is 129–133 cm (51–52 in) for bulls and 120–127 cm (47–50 in) for cows, but large individuals may attain 160 cm (63 in). Head-lump length at maturity typically ranges from 240–300 cm (94–118 in) with a 60–100 cm (24–39 in) long tail.[17] They range in weight from 300–550 kg (660–1,210 lb), but weights of over 1,000 kg (2,200 lb) have also been observed.[1]
Tedong bonga is apiebald water buffalo featuring a unique black and white colouration that is favoured by theToraja ofSulawesi.[18]
The swamp buffalo has 48chromosomes, while the river buffalo has 50 chromosomes. The two types do not readily interbreed, but fertile offspring can occur. Water buffalo-cattle hybrids have not been observed to occur, but the embryos of such hybrids reach maturity in laboratory experiments, albeit at lower rates than non-hybrids.[19]
Therumen of the water buffalo differs from the rumen of otherruminants.[20] It contains a larger population of bacteria, particularly thecellulolytic bacteria, lowerprotozoa, and higher fungizoospores. In addition, higher levels of the rumenammonianitrogen (NH4-N) andpH have been found compared to those in cattle.[21]
Three water buffaloes almost submerged, LaosWater buffaloes wallowing in mud in Sri Lanka
River buffaloes prefer deep water. Swamp buffaloes prefer towallow in mudholes, which they make with their horns. During wallowing, they acquire a thick coating of mud.[1] Both are well-adapted to a hot and humid climate with temperatures ranging from 0 °C (32 °F) in the winter to 30 °C (86 °F) and greater in the summer. Water availability is important in hot climates, since they need wallows, rivers, or splashing water to assist inthermoregulation. Some water buffalobreeds are adapted tosaline seaside shores andsaline sandy terrain.[22]
Green fodders are widely used for intensive milk production and for fattening. Many fodder crops are conserved as hay, chaffed, or pulped. Fodders includealfalfa, banana plants,cassava, maize,oats, andsorghum. During floods, the animals can graze under water, feeding on aquatic plants such asreeds, sedges, and species of marsh grasses. They can help to keep waterways open by eatingwater hyacinth.[1]
Swamp buffaloes generally becomereproductive at an older age than river breeds. Young males in Egypt, India, and Pakistan are first mated around 3.0–3.5 years of age, but in Italy, they may be used as early as 2 years of age. Successful mating behaviour may continue until the animal is 12 years or even older. A good river buffalo male can impregnate 100 females in a year. A strong seasonal influence onmating occurs. Heat stress reduceslibido.[1]
Although water buffaloes are polyoestrous, their reproductive efficiency shows wide variation throughout the year. The cows exhibit a distinct seasonal change in displayingoestrus,conception rate, andcalving rate.[23] The age at the first oestrus ofheifers varies between breeds from 13 to 33 months, but mating at the first oestrus is often infertile and usually deferred until they are 3 years old.Gestation lasts from 281 to 334 days, but most reports give a range between 300 and 320 days. Swamp buffaloes carry their calves for one or two weeks longer than river buffaloes. Finding water buffaloes that continue to work well at the age of 30 is not uncommon, and instances of a working life of 40 years have been recorded.[1]
Murrah buffalo herd at the Philippine Carabao CenterTrâu Nội buffaloes tied near a barn in Lào Cai, Vietnam
The most probable ancestor of domesticated water buffalo is the wild water buffalo (Bubalus arnee), which is native to theIndian subcontinent and tropical Southeast Asia.[24] Two types of domesticated water buffalo are recognized, based onmorphological and behavioural criteria – theriver buffalo (of the western Indian subcontinent and west to the Levant, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean) and theswamp buffalo (found fromAssam andEast India in the west, east to theYangtze Valley of China, and south throughIndochina and Southeast Asia).[2]
River- and swamp-type water buffalo are believed to have beendomesticated independently. Results of aphylogenetic study indicate that the river-type water buffalo probably originated in western India and was probably domesticated about 6,300 years ago; the swamp-type originated independently fromMainland Southeast Asia, being domesticated between 3–7,000 years ago.[4] The river buffalo dispersed west as far asEgypt, southern Europe, theLevant, and the Mediterranean regions; swamp buffalo dispersed in the opposite direction, to the rest of Southeast Asia, and as far as the Yangtze Valley in China.[4][5][6]
The present-day river buffalo is the result of complex domestication processes involving more than one maternal lineage and a significant maternalgene flow from wild populations after the initial domestication events.[27] Twenty-twobreeds of the river buffalo are known, including theMurrah,Nili-Ravi,Surti,Carabao, Anatolian,Mediterranean, and Egyptian buffaloes.[28] China has a huge variety of water buffalogenetic resources, with 16 local swamp buffalo breeds in various regions.[22]
Mitochondrial DNA analyses indicate that the two types were domesticated independently.[29]Sequencing ofcytochrome b (CytB)genes ofBubalusspecies implies that the water buffalo originated from at least two populations, and that the river-type and the swamp-type have differentiated at the full species level. Thegenetic distance between the two types is so large that a divergence time of about 1.7 million years has been suggested. The swamp-type was noticed to have the closest relationship with thetamaraw of the northern Philippines.[30]
A 2008 DNA analysis ofNeolithic water buffalo remains in northern China (previously used as evidence of a Chinese domestication origin) found that the remains were of theextinctBubalus mephistopheles and are not genetically related to modern domesticated water buffaloes. Another study in 2004 also concluded that the remains were from wild specimens. Both indicate that water buffaloes were first domesticated outside of China.[5][6] Analyses ofmitochondrial DNA andsingle-nucleotide polymorphism indicate that swamp and river buffaloes werecrossbred in China.[31]
A 2020 analysis of the genomes of 91 swamp and 30 river buffaloes showed that they separated already before domestication about0.23 million years ago.[32] A 2021 analysis of water buffalo andlowland anoa genomes unexpectedly found the anoa branching somewhere between swamp and river buffaloes.[16] A 2023 Filipino study using theCytB gene instead found thetamaraw branching between the two.[33]
By 2011, the global water buffalo population was about 172 million.[34] The estimated global population of water buffalo is 208,098,759 head distributed in 77 countries in five continents.[35]
The husbandry system of water buffaloes depends on the purpose for which they are bred and maintained. Most are kept by people who work on small farms in family units. Their water buffaloes live in close association with them, and are often their greatestcapital asset. In India, the women and girls generally look after the milking buffaloes, while the men and boys are concerned with the working animals. Throughout Asia, they are commonly tended by children who are often seen leading or riding their charges to wallows. Water buffaloes are the ideal animals for work in the deep mud ofpaddy fields because of their large hooves and flexible foot joints.[36] They are sometimes called "the living tractor of the East".[1]: 115 They are an efficient and economical means of cultivation of small fields. In many rice-producing countries, they are used forthreshing and for transporting thesheaves during the rice harvest. They provide power for oilseed mills, sugarcane presses, and devices for raising water. They are widely used aspack animals and, in India and Pakistan, also for heavy haulage. In their invasions of Europe, theOttoman Turks used water buffaloes for hauling heavy battering rams. Their dung is used as afertilizer, and as afuel when dried.[1]
A child plowing with a water buffalo in Si Pan Don, Laos
Around 26 million water buffaloes are slaughtered each year for meat worldwide.[37] They contribute 72 million tonnes of milk and three million tonnes of meat annually to world food, much of it in areas that are prone to nutritional imbalances. In India, river buffaloes are kept mainly for milk production and for transport, whereas swamp buffaloes are kept mainly for work and a small amount of milk.[38]
Water buffalo meat or carabeef[39] is a major source of export revenue for India.[40] The hides provide tough and useful leather.[41]
The bones and horns are often made into jewellery, especially earrings. Horns are used for the embouchure of musical instruments, such as theney and thekaval.[42]
Water buffalo milk presents physicochemical features different from those of other ruminant species, such as a higher content offatty acids andproteins.[43] The physical and chemical parameters of swamp-type and river-type water buffalo milk differ.[44]Water buffalo milk contains higher levels of total solids,crude protein,fat,calcium, andphosphorus, and slightly higher content oflactose compared with those ofcow milk. The high level of total solids makes water buffalo milk ideal for processing into value-added dairy products such as cheese. Theconjugated linoleic acid content in water buffalo milk ranged from 4.4 mg/g fat in September to 7.6 mg/g fat in June. Seasons and genetics may play a role in variation of CLA level and changes in gross composition of water buffalo milk.[45]
Water buffalo milk is processed into a large variety ofdairy products, including:[46]
Creamchurns much faster at higher fat levels and gives higher overrun than cow cream.
Butter from water buffalo cream displays more stability than that from cow cream.
Ghee from water buffalo milk has a different texture with a bigger grain size than ghee from cow milk.
Wildlife conservation scientists have started to recommend and use introduced populations of feral water buffaloes to manage uncontrolled vegetation growth in and around naturalwetlands. Introduced water buffaloes at home in such environs provide cheap service by regularly grazing the uncontrolled vegetation and opening up clogged water bodies forwaterfowl, wetland birds, and other wildlife.[48][49] Grazing water buffaloes are sometimes used in Great Britain forconservation grazing, such as in the Chippenham Fen National Nature Reserve. The water buffaloes can better adapt to wet conditions and poor-quality vegetation than cattle.[50] In uncontrolled circumstances, though, water buffaloes can cause environmental damage, such as trampling vegetation, disturbing bird and reptile nesting sites, and spreading exotic weeds.[51]
There have been many attempts at creating hybrids between domestic cattle and domestic water buffaloes, however, to date, none have been successful; the embryos usually only get to the8-cell stage before failing.[53]
The first cloned water buffaloes were born in 2007. Chinese scientists usedmicromanipulation-basedsomatic cell nuclear transfer produce several clones of a swamp-type water buffalo. Three calves were born; two died young.[54]
In 2007, the PCC announced plans to clone the swamp-type water buffalo. The plan was to use as a tool for genetic improvement in water buffaloes to produce "super buffalo calves" by multiplying existinggermplasms, but without modifying or alteringgenetic material.[55] A 2009Voice of America article says the PCC is "close to producing the world's first water buffalo clone".[56]
In 2009,National Dairy Research Institute (Karnal, India) cloned a river-type water buffalo using a simplified somatic cell nuclear transfer procedure called "handmade cloning".[54] The calf, named Samrupa, did not survive more than a week due togenetic defects. A few months later, a second cloned calf named Garima was successfully born.[57] TheCentral Institute for Research on Buffaloes, India's premier research institute on water buffaloes, also became the second institute in the world to successfully clone the water buffalo in 2016.[58]
TheMinangkabau people ofWest Sumatra adorn their houses and clothing with motifs based on the buffalo's horns as a tribute to thelegend that pitted a buffalo (kabau) chosen by their kingdom against one by (traditionally) theMajapahit empire, to which their kingdom won.[59]In Chinese tradition, the water buffalo is associated with a contemplative life.[60] In theThai and Sinhalese animal and planetary zodiac, the water buffalo is the third animal zodiac of theThai and the fourth animal zodiac of theSinhalese people of Sri Lanka.[61] A water buffalo head was a symbol of death in Tibet.[60] The carabao is considered anational symbol of the Philippines, although this has no basis in Philippine law.[62] In Indian mythology, the Hindu god of death,Yama, rides on a water buffalo.[63] A male water buffalo is sacrificed in India duringShaktism festivals.[64][65][66]
In the early 19th century in Australia, water buffalo escaped British colonies on theCobourg Peninsula and became feral. LaterAboriginal Australians ofArnhem Land discovered these herds and perceived these never-before-known animals –nganaparru – as a new manifestation of theirdreaming ordjang;Indigenous Australian art depicting these water buffalo were resurfaced in a cave within a site named Djarrng nearGunbalanya in 1979.[67]
The Moh juj Water Buffalo Fighting Festival is held every year inBhogali Bihu in Assam.[71] The Do Son Water Buffalo Fighting Festival of Vietnam is held each year on the ninth day of the eighth month of thelunar calendar atDo Son Township,Haiphong City,Vietnam. It is one of the most popular Vietnam festivals and events in Haiphong City. The preparations for this buffalo fighting festival begin from the two to three months earlier. The competing water buffalo are selected and trained months in advance. The festival is linked with worship of the Water God and theHien Sinh custom to show the martial spirit of the people of Do Son, Haiphong.[72][73][74]
TheKo Samui Water Buffalo Fighting Festival of Thailand is a popular event held on special occasions such as New Year's Day in January, andSongkran in mid-April. This festival features head-wrestling bouts in which two male water buffaloes are pitted against one another. Unlike inSpanish-style bullfighting, wherein bulls get killed while fighting sword-wielding men, the festival held atKo Samui is a fairly harmless contest. The fighting season varies according to ancient customs and ceremonies. The first water buffalo to turn and run away is considered the loser; the winning water buffalo becomes worth several millionbaht.[75]
Filipinos and American soldiers observed a fight in 1906
The Pulilan Carabao Festival is held annually every 14 and 15 May in thePhilippine town ofPulilan in honor ofSt. Isidore the Laborer, the patron saint of farmers. As thanksgiving for a bountiful harvest every year, farmers parade their carabaos in the main town street, adorning them with garlands and other decorations. One of the highlights of the festival is the kneeling of the carabaos in front of the parish church.[79]
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![Impression of an Akkadian seal. The long-horned water buffalo testifies to exchanges with the Indus Valley Civilisation. c. 2217–2193 BC.[68][69][70]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aImpression_of_a_cylinder_seal_of_The_Divine_Sharkalisharri_Prince_of_Akkad_Ibni-Sharrum_the_Scribe_his_servant.jpg)
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