Buffalo, Water | Research & Encyclopedia Articles

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Domestic buffalo Summary

Buffalo, Water

The Asiatic water buffalo is considered the true buffalo, Bubalus bubalis. The African or cape buffalo is Sycerus caffer. Buffalo is known as carabao in the Philippines, shui niu (water buffalo) in China, and kerbau in Malaysia.

The size of buffalo varies. Small buffalo in China weigh 250 kilograms. Buffalo in Thailand weigh between 450 and 550 kilograms; those in Laos, up to 500 to 600 kilograms. Some weighing even 1,000 kilograms have been observed. Height varies from 100 to 148 centimeters, depending on age. Similarly, body length ranges from 160 to 215 centimeters.

Buffalo are sensitive to extreme cold and not as adaptable as cattle to very cold climates. They do not do well where the sun is inadequate to ripen crops such as cotton, grapes, or rice. Although the general belief is that the buffalo is a tropical animal, river buffalo have been employed to pull snowplows during the winter in Bulgaria. Buffalo are also found in the former Soviet states of Georgia and Azerbaijan as well as in the cold and mountainous areas of Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Nepal. Sizable herds in Italy and the former Soviet Union range above 40° N latitude.

Likenesses of buffalo have been found on seals made in the Indus Valley in India and Pakistan more than five thousand years ago, and records show that the buffalo was in use in China more than four thousand years ago. Although some evidence suggests that the buffalo was domesticated in the areas that are now

India and Pakistan, some experts argue that the buffalo was first domesticated as a work animal in Mesopotamia during the Akkadian dynasty, about 2500 BCE. Archaeological evidence of buffalo as a domesticated animal has been limited to seals and bone findings. Buffalo, however, were brought from Mesopotamia to modern Syria, Israel, and Egypt only in 600 CE. Buffalo migrated eastward and westward from their countries of origin in Mesopotamia, India, and Pakistan. In the last two millennia, such migrations have accounted for colonies of buffalo being established in the Philippines and Indonesia.

Types of Domesticated Buffalo

There are two general types of domesticated water buffalo—swamp buffalo and river buffalo. The distinction is based on habitat. The swamp buffalo is native to swampland and wallows in mud and feeds on coarse marsh grasses and reeds. The river buffalo, on the other hand, prefers to wallow in rivers and ponds. River breeds include all the milking breeds in India and Pakistan, such as the Murrah, Jafarabadi, Mehsana, Surti, and others.

Swamp buffalo are slate gray, droopy necked, and look like oxen with huge backswept horns. They are native to the eastern half of Asia from India to Taiwan. These buffalo are found in China and areas stretching from the Philippines in Southeast Asia to as far west as India. The swamp buffalo has been identifiedessentially as the China buffalo. Although mostly employed as a work animal, the swamp buffalo is also used for meat but almost hardly ever for milk. But some experts believe that this buffalo has the potential for milk production similar to that of the milch river breeds, with the milk yielding a product rich in butterfat (ghee).

A boy riding a water buffalo in Yangon, Mynamar, in 1996. (STEPHEN G. DONALDSON PHOTOGRAPHY)

River buffalo are native to the western half of Asia and are found farther west in India, Egypt, and Europe. They are usually either black or dark gray. They have tightly coiled or drooping straight horns and actually prefer to wallow in clean water and ponds. River buffalo produce more milk than swamp buffalo and are used in dairies.

Water buffalo are generally herd animals with an innate attachment to a site or a herd. Their lifespan ranges from twenty to thirty years—two to three times the lifespan of cattle. The gestation period is 270 to 285 days—about a month longer than that of cattle. Poor management and poor nutrition have been blamed for the belief that the buffalo is slow to mature sexually and slow to rebreed after calving. Buffalo estrus is difficult to detect, and the estrus cycle averages about twenty-four days. Matings occur at night.

Buffalo cows normally reach breeding age at about two years and can bear their first calves at three. The bulls generally reach breeding age at about three but are not fully mature until they are about eight years old. The large bulls that have been deemed best for breeding are often selected for draft animals, which are castrated. Others are sent to slaughter. In China, the castration of male calves not required for breeding is done by knife and ligature at around one year of age.

Buffalo and cattle belong to the same family, although genetically buffalo are further removed from cattle than from the American bison, which has been hunted to near extinction. A closer living relative is the European forest bison. The domesticated swamp buffalo is almost identical to the wild arni, whereas the domesticated river buffalo has no wild prototype. Buffalo do not generally interbreed with domestic cattle, although cross-breeding by farmers has been reported but not well documented. Worldwide, the population has been rising, but in many countries in Southeast Asia, there has been a decline.