The water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis), also called the domestic water buffalo or Asian water buffalo, is a large bovid originating in the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, and China. Today, it is also found in Europe, Australia, North America, South America and some African countries. Two extant types of water buffalo are recognized, based on morphological and behavioural criteria – the river buffalo of the Indian subcontinent and further west to the Balkans, Egypt, and Italy and the swamp buffalo, found from Assam in the west through Southeast Asia to the Yangtze valley of China in the east.
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Artiodactyla |
| Family: | Bovidae |
| Subfamily: | Bovinae |
| Genus: | Bubalus |
| Species: | B. bubalis |
The wild water buffalo (Bubalus arnee) also called Asian buffalo, Asiatic buffalo, native to the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia most likely represents the ancestor of the domestic water buffalo. Results of a phylogenetic study indicate that the river-type water buffalo probably originated in India and was domesticated about 5,000 years ago, whereas the swamp-type originated in China and was domesticated about 4,000 years ago. The swamp buffalo dispersed up to the Yangtze River valley between 3,000 and 7,000 years ago.
It has been listed as Endangered in the IUCN Red List since 1986, as the remaining population totals less than 4,000. A population decline of at least 50% over the last three generations (24–30 years) is projected to continue. The global population has been estimated at 3,400 individuals, of which 3,100 (91%) live in India, mostly in Assam.
Water buffaloes were domesticated in the Indian subcontinent about 5,000 years ago, and in China about 4,000 years ago. However, according to DD Kosambi, the animal may have been domesticated during the age of Buddha or later. Two types are recognized, based on morphological and behavioural criteria – the river buffalo of the Indian subcontinent and further west to the Balkans and Italy, and the swamp buffalo, found from Assam in the west through Southeast Asia to the Yangtze valley of China in the east.
Results of mitochondrial DNA analyses indicate that the two types were domesticated independently. Sequencing of cytochrome b genes of Bubalus species 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. The genetic 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 the tamaraw.
Water buffaloes were traded from the Indus Valley Civilisation to Mesopotamia, in modern Iraq, 2500 BC by the Meluhhas. The seal of a scribe employed by an Akkadian king shows the sacrifice of water buffaloes.
At least 130 million water buffaloes exist, and more people depend on them than on any other domestic animal. They are especially suitable for tilling rice fields, 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.
Twenty-two breeds of the river buffalo are known, including the Murrah, NiliRavi, Surti, Jafarabadi, Anatolian, Mediterranean, and Egyptian buffaloes. China has a huge variety of water buffalo genetic resources, with 16 local swamp buffalo breeds in various regions.
Water buffalo spend much of their day submerged in the muddy waters of Asia’s tropical and subtropical forests. They have wide-splayed hooves, which are used to prevent them from sinking too deeply in the mud. These adaptations allow them to move in wetlands and swamps. Water buffalo also prefer to feed in grasslands on grass and forbs.
Physioanatomy
Water buffalo behavior sometimes differs from cattle. For example, most water buffalo are not trained to be driven. Instead, the herdsman must walk alongside or ahead of them. They then instinctively follow. They also rub against trees more often than cattle do, and they sometimes debark the trees, causing the trees to die.
The skin of the river buffalo is black like sofu, but some specimens may have dark, slate-coloured skin. River buffaloes have comparatively 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 have a grey skin at birth, but become slate blue later. Albinoids are present in some populations. Swamp buffaloes are heavy-bodied and stockily built; the body is short and the belly large. 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.
River Buffalo(Left) and Swamp Buffalo(Right)
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 0 °C in the winter to 30 °C and greater in the summer.
The swamp buffalo has 48 chromosomes; 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.
Water buffaloes thrive on many aquatic plants. 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.
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. Swamp buffaloes generally become reproductive 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. 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.
Population Size
By 2011, the global water buffalo population was about 172 million. The estimated global population of water buffalo is 208,098,759 head distributed in 77 countries in five continents. More than 95.8% of the world population of water buffaloes are kept in Asia, including both the river-type and the swamp-type.
The water buffalo population in India numbered over 97.9 million head in 2003, representing 56.5% of the world population. They are primarily of the river type, with 10 well-defined breeds: the Bhadawari, Banni, Jafarabadi, Marathwadi, Mehsana, Murrah, Nagpuri, Nili-Ravi, Pandharpuri, Surti, and Toda buffaloes. Swamp buffaloes occur only in small areas in northeastern India and are not distinguished into breeds.
Water buffaloes were probably introduced to Europe from India or other eastern sources. In Italy, the Longobard King Agilulf is said to have received water buffaloes around 600 AD. These were probably a present from the Khan of the Avars, a Turkic nomadic tribe that dwelt near the Danube River at the time.
In Australia, between 1824 and 1849, water buffaloes were introduced into the Northern Territory from Timor, Kisar, and probably other islands in the Indonesian archipelago. In 1886, a few milking types were brought from India to Darwin.
In S.America water buffaloes were introduced into the Amazon River basin in 1895. In 2005, the water buffalo herd in the Brazilian Amazon stood at roughly 1.6 million head, of which 460,000 were located in the lower Amazon flood plains.
In N.America In 1974, four water buffaloes were imported to the United States from Guam to be studied at the University of Florida. In February 1978, the first herd arrived for commercial farming. Until 2002, only one commercial breeder was in the United States.
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. Water buffaloes are the ideal animals for work in the deep mud of paddy fields because of their large hooves and flexible foot joints. They are often referred to as “the living tractor of the East”.
They are the most efficient and economical means of cultivation of small fields. In most rice-producing countries, they are used for threshing and for transporting the sheaves during the rice harvest. They are widely used as pack animals, 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.
Usage
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 wetlands. 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. Grazing water buffaloes are sometimes used in Great Britain for conservation grazing, such as in the Chippenham Fen National Nature Reserve.
Water buffalo milk presents physicochemical features different from those of other ruminant species, such as a higher content of fatty acids and proteins. The physical and chemical parameters of swamp-type and river-type water buffalo milk differ.
In 2007, the development of Southeast Asia’s first cloned water buffalo was announced in the Philippines. The Department of Agriculture’s Philippine Carabao Center implemented cloning through somatic cell nuclear transfer as a tool for genetic improvement in water buffaloes to produce “super buffalo calves” by multiplying existing germplasms, but without modifying or altering genetic material.
Indian scientists from the National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal developed a cloned water buffalo in 2010. The water buffalo calf was named Samrupa. The calf did not survive more than a week, due to genetic defects. A few months later, a second cloned calf named Garima was successfully born. 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.
The water buffalo has been domesticated by humans for thousands of years and is inhumanely used to pull heavy machinery, carry heavy loads, plow and transport people. Water buffalo are commercially farmed around the globe for their milk, skin, butterfat and meat. Around 26 million water buffaloes are slaughtered each year for meat worldwide. They contribute 72 million tonnes of milk and three million tonnes of meat annually to world food.
To end the inhumane treatment of farm animals is far reaching and multi-faceted. Eating a vegetarian diet is one of the best things you can do, and also to stop climate change – it’s also delicious and loads of fun!
Culture
A buffalo symbolizes strength, abundance, stability, freedom, consistency, gentleness, gratitude, prosperity, and helpfulness. Its enormous head reflects its higher mental ability that its keeps grounded by remaining connected to mother earth. Buffaloes are interpreted in different ways. In Indian mythology, in some communities evil is represented by the water buffalo. The Hindu god of death, Yama, rides on Mahisha(a water buffalo). In the Rig Veda the bovine species, whether as buffalo or bull, lends its glamor to the evocation of the gods, Agni, Indra, Soma, and Varuna, the principal Vedic gods, are invoked as buffaloes. Much less frequently are they invoked as bulls. Indra is once praised as a buffalo great in “bull powers”. In Rig Veda there is a Mantra that mentions it as the foremost among all animals.
In Gujarat and some parts of Rajasthan in India, mostly in Rayka, as well as many other communities, many worship the goddess Vihat, who uses a male water buffalo as her Vahana. Also, the goddess Varahi in Indian culture is shown to possess a water buffalo and ride it.
Mhasoba, the horned buffalo, is considered a deity and worshipped by pastoral tribes in western and central India. In Maharashtra, many cattle owners (tribes who make a living by cow-herding and by selling dairy products) have been worshipping this deity for hundreds of years.
One of the famous temples dedicated to Mhasoba is located at Mhase near Thane. The festival and fair held in paush month – full moon day in December/January attracts thousands of devotees. But nowadays some people are using Mhasoba name to propagate racism in India by joining its name to the demon king Mahishasura, another shapeshifting buffalo demon .
India
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. 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. Let us see some Indian Breeds of Buffaloes:-
It has been used to improve the milk production of dairy buffalo in other countries.
The Pandharpuri buffalo has 45-50 centimetre-long horns which are sometimes twisted.
One of the reason of animal abuse increase is industrialization of animal farms. The very nature of love between our domestic pets and humans is lost. What our friendship and increased knowledge has given to these sentient beings is Oxytocin Injections, Milking machines – injurious and sometimes fatal, Reduced Life span : Chain of Artificial Insemination-Too many pregnancies-Burnout-Slaughter, Inhuman living conditions, Feed on Garbage.
Let us protect farm animals from cruelty and abuse, protect the public from the misuse of antibiotics, hormones, and other chemicals used on factory farms, and protect the environment from the impacts of industrialized animal factories.
Go Vegan or a Vegetarian Diet
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