The water buffalo ( Bubalus bubalis), also called domestic water buffalo, Asian water buffalo and Asiatic water buffalo, is a large bovid originating in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. Today, it is also kept in Italy, the Balkans, Australia, North America, South America and some African countries.
The wild water buffalo ( Bubalus arnee) is most probably the ancestor of the domestic water buffalo.[ The river buffalo dispersed west as far as Egypt, the Balkans, and Italy; while swamp buffalo dispersed to the rest of Southeast Asia and up to the Yangtze Valley.]
Water buffaloes were traded from the Indus Valley Civilisation to Mesopotamia, in modern Iraq, in 2500 BC by the .
Water buffaloes are especially suitable for Tillage , and their milk is richer in fat and protein than that of dairy cattle. A large feral population became established in northern Australia in the late 19th century, and there are smaller feral herds in Papua New Guinea, Tunisia and northeastern Argentina.[ Feral herds are also present in New Britain, New Ireland, Irian Jaya, Colombia, Guyana, Suriname, Brazil, and Uruguay.]
Taxonomy
Carl Linnaeus first described the genus Bos and the water buffalo under the binomial Bos bubalis in 1758; the species was known to occur in Asia and was held as a domestic form in Italy.
In March 2003, the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature achieved consistency in the naming of the wild and domestic water buffaloes by ruling that the scientific name Bubalus arnee is valid for the wild form.
In the early 1970s, different names were proposed for the river and swamp types of water buffalos; the river type was referred to as Bubalus bubalis bubalis , while the swamp type was referred to as Bubalus bubalis carabanensis . However, Bubalus carabanensis is considered a junior synonym of Bubalus kerabau .
Characteristics
The skin of the river buffalo is black, but some specimens may have dark, slate-coloured skin. Swamp buffaloes have a grey skin at birth, which becomes slate blue later. Albinism 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 the snout is wide. The neck is comparatively long, and the withers and croup 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 the hocks. The size of the body and shape of the horns may vary greatly among breeds. Height at the withers is for bulls and for cows, but large individuals may attain . Head-lump length at maturity typically ranges from with a long tail.
Tedong bonga is a piebald water buffalo featuring a unique black and white colouration that is favoured by the Toraja of Sulawesi.[Priyanto, D., Suradissastra, K. (2010). Ko-evolusi dan Panarchy: Integrasi Ternak Kerbau dalam Sistem Sosial Etnis Toraja . Seminar dan Lokakarya Nasional Kerbau 2010]
The swamp buffalo has 48 chromosomes, 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.
The rumen of the water buffalo differs from the rumen of other .
Ecology and behavior
River buffaloes prefer deep water. Swamp buffaloes prefer to wallow in mudholes, which they make with their horns. During wallowing, they acquire a thick coating of mud.[ Both are well-adapted to a hot and humid climate with temperatures ranging from in the winter to and greater in the summer. Water availability is important in hot climates, since they need wallows, rivers, or splashing water to assist in thermoregulation. Some water buffalo are adapted to Saline water seaside shores and Soil salinity.][Borghese, A., Mazzi, M. (2005). Buffalo Population and Strategies in the World. Pages 1–39 in Borghese, A. (ed.) Buffalo Production and Research. REU Technical Series 67. Inter-regional Cooperative Research Network on Buffalo, FAO Regional Office for Europe, Rome.]
Diet
Water buffaloes thrive on many . During floods, they graze submerged, raising their heads above the water and carrying quantities of edible plants. Water buffaloes eat reeds, Arundo donax, a kind of Cyperaceae, Eichhornia crassipes, and Juncaceae. Some of these plants are of great value to local peoples. Others, such as E. crassipes and A. donax, are a major problem in some tropical valleys and by eating them, the water buffaloes may help control these invasive plants.
Green fodders are widely used for intensive milk production and for fattening. Many fodder crops are conserved as hay, chaffed, or pulped. Fodders include alfalfa, the leaves, stems or trimmings of banana, cassava, Mangelwurzel, esparto, Leucaena leucocephala and kenaf, maize, , Pandanus, peanut, sorghum, soybean, sugarcane, bagasse, and . Citrus pulp and pineapple wastes have been fed safely to buffalo. In Egypt, whole sun-dried Date palm are fed to milk buffalo up to 25% of the standard feed mixture.[
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Reproduction
Swamp buffaloes generally become Reproduction 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 on mating occurs. Heat stress reduces libido.[
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Although water buffaloes are polyoestrous, their reproductive efficiency shows wide variation throughout the year. The cows exhibit a distinct seasonal change in displaying oestrus, conception rate, and calving rate.[Barile, V. L. (2005). "Reproductive Efficiency in Female Buffaloes". pp. 77–108 in Borghese, A. (ed.) Buffalo Production and Research . REU Technical Series 67. Inter-regional Cooperative Research Network on Buffalo, FAO Regional Office for Europe, Rome.] The age at the first oestrus of heifers 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.[
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Domestication and breeding
The most probable ancestor of domesticated water buffalo is the wild water buffalo ( Bubalus arnee), which is native to the Indian subcontinent and tropical Southeast Asia.
River- and swamp-type water buffalo are believed to have been Domestication independently. Results of a phylogenetic study indicate that the river-type water buffalo probably originated in western India and was probable domesticated about 6,300 years ago; the swamp-type originated independently from Mainland Southeast Asia, being domesticated between 3-7,000 years ago.[ The river buffalo dispersed west as far as Egypt, southern Europe, the Levant, 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.]
Swamp-type water buffalo entered Island Southeast Asia from at least 2,500 years ago through the northern Philippines, where butchered remains of domesticated water buffalo have been recovered from the Neolithic Nagsabaran site (part of the Lal-lo and Gattaran Shell Middens, to 400 CE). These became the ancestors of the distinctly swamp-type carabao buffalo breed of the Philippines which, in turn, spread to Guam, Indonesia, and Malaysia, among other smaller islands.
The present-day river buffalo is the result of complex domestication processes involving more than one maternal lineage and a significant maternal gene flow from wild populations after the initial domestication events.[Moioli, B. and A. Borghese (2005). Buffalo Breeds and Management Systems. Pages 51–76 in Borghese, A. (ed.) Buffalo Production and Research . REU Technical Series 67. Inter-regional Cooperative Research Network on Buffalo, FAO Regional Office for Europe, Rome.] China has a huge variety of water buffalo genetic resources, with 16 local swamp buffalo breeds in various regions.[
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Genetic studies
Mitochondrial DNA analyses indicate that the two types were domesticated independently.
A 2008 DNA analysis of Neolithic water buffalo remains in northern China (previously used as evidence of a Chinese domestication origin) found that the remains were of the extinct Bubalus 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.
A 2020 analysis of the genomes of 91 swamp and 30 river buffaloes showed that they separated already before domestication about .[ A 2023 Filipino study using the CytB gene instead found the tamaraw branching between the two.]
Populations
By 2011, the global water buffalo population was about 172 million.[Borghese, A. (2011). "Situation and Perspectives of Buffalo in the World, Europe and Macedonia" . Macedonian Journal of Animal Science 1 (#2): 281–296.] The estimated global population of water buffalo is 208,098,759 head distributed in 77 countries in five continents.
Husbandry
The husbandry system of water buffaloes depends on the purpose for which they are bred and maintained. Most of them 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 greatest capital asset. The women and girls in India 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 of because of their large hooves and flexible foot joints. They are sometimes called "the living tractor of the East". They are an efficient and economical means of cultivation of small fields. In many rice-producing countries, they are used for threshing and for transporting the sheaves during the rice harvest. They provide power for oilseed mills, sugarcane presses, and devices for raising water. They are widely used as , and in India and Pakistan, for heavy haulage, also. In their invasions of Europe, the Turks used water buffaloes for hauling heavy battering rams. Their dung is used as a fertilizer, and as a fuel when dried.[
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File:Kerbau Jawa.jpg|Plowing narrow in Java, Indonesia
File:Milking the Buffalo (35403227412).jpg|Woman milking a buffalo,
Bangalore, India
File:Yuanyang cow pat.jpg|Buffalo dung drying on a house in Yunnan, China
Products
Around 26 million water buffaloes are slaughtered each year for meat worldwide.[C. V. Singh, R. S. Barwal (2010). Buffalo Breeding Research and Improvement Strategies in India. In: The Buffalo in the World. Proceedings of the 9th World Buffalo Congress, Buenos Aires, April 2010, pages 1024–1031. Archived 17 April 2012.]
Meat, skin, bone, and horn
Water buffalo meat or carabeef
The bones and horns are often made into jewellery, especially earrings. Horns are used for the embouchure of musical instruments, such as ney and kaval.
Dairy
Water buffalo milk presents physicochemical features different from those of other ruminant species, such as a higher content of and .
Water buffalo milk is processed into a large variety of dairy products, including:
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Cream churns much faster at higher fat levels and gives higher overrun than cow cream.
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Butter from water buffalo cream displays more stability than that from cow cream.
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Ghee from water buffalo milk has a different texture with a bigger grain size than ghee from cow milk.
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Heat-concentrated milk products in the Indian subcontinent include paneer, khoa, rabri, kheer and basundi.
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Fermented milk products include dahi, yogurt and strained yogurt.
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Whey is used for making ricotta and mascarpone in Italy, and areesh cheese in Syria and Egypt.
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include braila in Romania, and rumi cheese in Egypt.
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include mozzarella in Italy, karish, mish and madhfor in Iraq, alghab in Syria, kesong puti in the Philippines, and vladeasa in Romania.
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Environmental effects
Wildlife conservation scientists have started to recommend and use introduced populations of feral water buffaloes in far-away lands to manage uncontrolled vegetation growth in and around natural . Introduced water buffaloes at home in such environs provide cheap service by regularly grazing the uncontrolled vegetation and opening up clogged water bodies for waterfowl, wetland birds, and other wildlife.[BBC News February 2004 Buffalo improve wildlife habitat ]
Reproductive research
In vitro fertilization
In 2004, Philippine Carabao Center (PCC) in Nueva Ecija produced the first swamp-type water buffalo born from an in vitro-produced, vitrified embryo. It was named "Glory" after President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Joseph Estrada's most successful project as an opposition senator, the PCC was created through Republic Act 3707, the Carabao Act of 1992.
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 the 8-cell stage before failing.
Cloning
The first cloned water buffalos were born in 2007. Chinese scientists used Micromanipulator-based somatic cell nuclear transfer produce several clones of a swamp-type water buffalo. Three calves were born; two died young.
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 existing , but without modifying or altering material.
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".[ Samrupa, World's first cloned buffalo calf from India . Topinews.com] The Central 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.
In culture
The Minangkabau of West Sumatra Sumatra adorn their houses and clothing with motifs based on the buffalo's horns as a tribute to the legend that pitted a buffalo ( kabau) chosen by their kingdom against one by (traditionally) the Majapahit empire, to which their kingdom won.[Upham, E. (1829). The History and Doctrine of Budhism: Popularly Illustrated: with Notices of the Kappooism, Or Demon Worship, and of the Bali, Or Planetary Incantations, of Ceylon. London: R. Ackermann.] A water buffalo head was a symbol of death in Tibet.[
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The carabao is considered a national symbol of the Philippines, although this has no basis in Philippine law.
File:Impression of a cylinder seal of The Divine Sharkalisharri Prince of Akkad Ibni-Sharrum the Scribe his servant.jpg |Impression of an Akkadian Empire seal. The Indian Buffalo testifies to exchanges with the Indus Valley Civilisation. BC.
Fighting festivals
The Moh juj Water Buffalo Fighting Festival is held every year in Bhogali Bihu in Assam.[ Do Son: buffalo fighting festival (Vietnam) , 14 September 2005, VietNamNet Bridge][ Do Son Buffalo Fighting Festival Vietnam. Asiarooms.com][ Water Buffalo-fighting festival . Youtube]
The Ko Samui Water Buffalo Fighting Festival of Thailand is a popular event held on special occasions such as New Year's Day in January, and Songkran in mid-April. This festival features head-wrestling bouts in which two male water buffaloes are pitted against one another. Unlike in Spanish-style bullfighting, wherein bulls get killed while fighting sword-wielding men, the festival held at Ko 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 million baht.[Koh Samui Point (2017). Buffalo Fighting ]
File:Filipino_and_American_spectators_at_a_Carabao_fight_in_Jolo_LOC_3909061743.jpg |Filipinos and American soldiers observed a fight in 1906.
File:Water Buffalo fight.jpg |An unstaged fight
Racing festivals
The Kambala races of Karnataka, India, take place between October and March.
File:Carabao Cart.jpg |A carabao cart in the Philippines in 1899
File:Bisbuffalorace.jpg |Racing at Babulang 2006
File:Kambala, he-buffalo race at Vandar village, Udupi Dist., Kar. India.jpg |Race at Vandar village, Udupi district, India
Religious festival
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The Pulilan Carabao Festival is held annually every 14 and 15 May in the Philippines town of Pulilan in honor of St. 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.
See also
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African buffalo ( Syncerus caffer)
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Bubalus murrensis
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Cattle in religion
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Italian Mediterranean buffalo
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List of water buffalo breeds
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Zebu – the common breed of domestic cattle from India
Further reading
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Clutton-Brock, J. 1999. A Natural History of Domesticated Mammals. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. .
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Fahimuddin, M. 1989. Domestic Water Buffalo. Janpath, New Delhi: Oxford & IBH Publishing Co. Pvt. Ltd. .
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Guinness Book of Records, 2005.
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The Water Buffalo: New Prospects for an Underutilized Animal. Washington, D.C. 1981. National Academy Press. .
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Nowak, R. M. and Paradiso, J. L. 1983. Walker's Mammals of the World. Baltimore, Maryland: The Johns Hopkins University Press. .
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Roth, J. and P. Myers. "Bubalis Bubalis", University of Michigan Museum of Zoology Animal Diversity Web. Retrieved 15 January 2009
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Ruangprim, T. et al. 2007. "Rumen microbes and ecology of male dairy, beef cattle and buffaloes". In: Proceedings Animal Science Annual Meeting, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen 40002, Thailand.
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Thu, Nguyen Van and T. R. Preston. 1999. "Rumen environment and feed degradability in swamp buffaloes fed different supplements". Livestock Research for Rural Development 11 (3)
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Voelker, W. 1986. The Natural History of Living Mammals. Medford, New Jersey: Plexus Publishing, Inc. .
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Wilson, D. E. and Reeder, D. M. 1993. Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference, Second Edition. Smithsonian Institution.
External links
