Domestic Water Buffalo

Water Buffalo
Water buffalo cow in Thailand
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Artiodactyla Family: Bovidae Subfamily: Bovinae Tribe: Bovini Genus: Bubalus Species: B. bubalis
Binomial name
Bubalus bubalis (Linnaeus, 1758)

The Water Buffalo or domestic Asian water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) is a large bovine animal, frequently used as livestock in Asia, and also widely in South America, southern Europe, north Africa and elsewhere. In 2000, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization estimated that there were approximately 158 million water buffalo in the world and that 97% of them (approximately 153 million animals) were in Asia.^[1] There are established feral populations in northern Australia but the dwindling true wild populations are thought to survive in India, Nepal, Bhutan and Thailand. All the domestic varieties and breeds descend from one common ancestor, the wild Asian water buffalo, which is now an endangered species.

Buffalo, are used as draft, meat and dairy animals. Their dung is used as a fertilizer and as a fuel when dried. In Chonburi, Thailand, and in South Malabar Region in Kerala, India, there are annual water buffalo races. A few have also found use as pack animals carrying loads even for special forces.

American bison are known as buffalo in parts of North America, but not normally in other usages; bison are more closely related to cattle, gaur, banteng, and yaks than to "true" buffalo. The water buffalo genus includes water buffalo, tamarau and anoas—all Asian species. The ancestry of the African buffalo is unclear, but it is not believed to be closely related to the water buffalo.

It is known as "Water Buffalo" because it is adapted to and enjoys being in water.

Endangered wild Asian water buffalo

Main article: Wild Asian Water Buffalo

True wild Asian water buffalo (or wild Asiatic water buffalo) are thought to survive in India, Nepal, Bhutan and Thailand.

The IUCN Red List of threatened species classifies wild Asian water buffalo (Bubalis arnee) ^[2] as an Endangered species. The total number of wild Asian water buffalo left is thought to be less than 4,000, which suggests that the number of mature individuals will be less than 2,500, and an estimated continuing decline of at least 20% within 14 years (ca. 2 generations) and at least 50% within 21 years seems likely given the severity of the threats, especially hybridization with the abundant domestic Asian water buffalo leading to genetic pollution.^[3][4]

Anatomy and morphology

an albino water buffalo in Thailand

Adult water buffalo range in size from 300 kg to 600 kg for the domestic types (the wild animals are considerably larger).

River buffalo are usually black and have long curled horns, whereas swamp buffalo can be black or white, or both, with gently curved horns.^[5]

Taxonomy

The classification of the water buffalo is uncertain. Some authorities list a single species, Bubalus bubalis with three subspecies, the river buffalo (B. bubalis bubalis) of South Asia, the carabao or swamp buffalo (B. bubalis carabanesis) of the Philippines and Southeast Asia, and the arni, or wild Asian water buffalo (B. bubalis arnee). Others regard these as closely-related but separate species.^[6]

The swamp buffalo is primarily found in the eastern half of Asia and has 48 chromosomes. The river buffalo is mostly found in the western half of Asia (and in Europe and Africa), and has 50 chromosomes. The two types do not readily interbreed, but fertile offspring can occur. Buffalo-cattle hybrids have not been observed to occur, and the embryos of such hybrids do not reach maturity in laboratory experiments.^[7]

Distribution

Asia

Water Buffalo ploughing rice fields in Java,Indonesia

Asia is the native home of the water buffalo, with 95% of the world population of water buffalo, with about half of the total in India. Many Asian countries depend on the water buffalo as its primary bovine species. It is valuable for its meat and milk as well as the labour it performs. As of 1992 the Asian population was estimated at 141 million. The fat content of buffalo milk is the highest amongst farm animals and the butterfat is a major source of ghee in some Asian countries. Its success in Asia is evident by its extensive range. Both variants occur in Asia. River buffalo are found in elevations of 2,800 m in Nepal, and swamp buffalo are found throughout the lowland tropics. Part of their success is due to their ability to thrive on poor foodstuffs and yet be valuable economically. Moreover they are much better suited to plough the muddy paddy fields as they are better adapted than common cattle (Bos taurus) to move in swamps.

Buffalo headcount in 2004

Carabao Cart

Australia

Swamp buffalo were introduced into the Northern Territory early in the 19th century as a beast of burden. They escaped and became feral, causing significant environmental damage. As a result of this it may be hunted. Melville Island is a popular hunting location, where a steady population of up to 4,000 individuals exist. Buffalo are also found in Arnhem Land and the Top End. Safari outfits run out of Darwin to Melville Island and other locations in the Top End often with the use of bush pilots. The government has unsuccessfully attempted several eradication programs. Their only natural predator in Australia is the saltwater crocodile.

The buffalo live mainly in freshwater marshes and billabongs, and their range can be quite expansive during the Wet season. They have developed a different appearance from the Indonesian buffalo from which they descend.

Europe and Middle East

Introduced into North Africa and the Near East by 600 AD, the water buffalo was brought to Europe with returning Crusaders in the Middle Ages,^{[citation needed]} and herds can be found in Bulgaria, Romania and Italy. As in Asia, buffalo of the Middle East and Europe live on coarse vegetation on the marginal land traditionally available to peasants. They are an economic asset by serving as a protein source, draft animal, and storage of family or household wealth. In some areas, they also provide occasional recreation at annual racing festivals. These buffalo are mostly river buffalo; due to genetic isolation, they have adopted a distinct appearance. Buffalo milk is used for the production of buffalo mozzarella in Campania and many other locations around the world.

Egypt

Water buffalo are a traditional farm animal in Egypt, which has a large number of them. They are used as the main source of red meat in Egypt.^{[citation needed]} Cows have been introduced in modern farms, yet water buffalo remain as the more widespread type of cattle in Egypt.^{[citation needed]}

North America

Water buffalo heifers in Arkansas, USA

There are very limited commercial herds in North America, for yogurt and cheese products.^[8]

Importance to humans

There are many breeds of domestic water buffalo.

Water buffalo have been domesticated for 5,000 years and have become economically important animals. They provide more than 5% of the world’s milk supply and 20% to 30% of the farm power in Southeast Asia.^[9] Milk from these animals is used by many human populations, and is the traditional raw material for mozzarella cheese and curd due to its higher fat content. In Africa and other locations, water buffalo milk is used for yogurt, as in Vermont, USA. The chief dairy breed of Buffalo is the Murrah breed. Buffalo meat, sometimes called "Carabeef", is often passed off as beef in certain regions and is also a major source of export revenue for India which has the largest population of buffalo in the world. However, in many Asian regions, buffalo meat is less preferred due to its toughness, however, recipes have evolved (Rendang for example) where the slow cooking process and spices not only make the meat palatable, but also preserves it; an important factor in hot climates where refrigeration is not always available. Water buffalo horns are used for the embouchure of musical instruments such as ney and kaval. Water buffalo hide provides a tough and useful leather often used for shoes and motorcycle helmets.

Nutrition

Milk Composition Analysis, per 100 grams

^{[10][Full citation needed]}

Environmental effects

The water buffalo may affect the environment in either positve or negative ways.

Wildlife and conservation scientists have started to recommend and use introduced populations of feral water buffalo to manage uncontrolled vegetation growth in and around natural wetlands. Introduced Asian Water Buffalo at home in such environs provide cheap service by regularly grazing uncontrolled vegetation and opening up clogged water bodies for waterfowl, wetland birds and other wildlife.^[11][12] Grazing water buffalo are sometimes used in Great Britain for conservation grazing, for example to manage Chippenham Fen NNR. These buffalo have been found to be better suited to the wet conditions and poor-quality vegetation than many cattle. ^[13]

However, in uncontrolled circumstances, water buffalo can cause environmental damage, such as trampling vegetation, disturbing bird and reptile nesting sites, and spreading exotic weeds.^[14]

Research

First cloned buffalo

On September 15, 2007, the Philippines announced its development of Southeast Asia’s first cloned buffalo. The Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCARRD), under the Department of Science and Technology in Los Baños, Laguna approved this project. The Department of Agriculture’s Philippine Carabao Center (PCC) will implement "Cloning through somatic cell nuclear transfer as a tool for genetic improvement in water buffaloes". "Super buffalo calves" will be produced. There will be no modification or alteration of the genetic materials, as in GMOs (genetically modified organisms).^[15]

Super Carabao

On January 1, 2008, the Philippine Carabao Center in Nueva Ecija, per Filipino scientists initiated a study to breed the super water buffalo that could produce 4 to 18 liters of milk/day (gene-based technology). Also, the 1st test-tube hybrid carabao was born there in 2004, “Glory,” named 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.^[16]

In culture

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• Legend has it that the Chinese philosophical sage Lao Tzu left China through the Han Gu Pass riding a water buffalo.
• According to Hindu lore, the god of death Yama, rides on a water buffalo.
• The carabao variant is considered as a national symbol in the Philippines.
• In Vietnam, water buffalo are often the most valuable possession of poor farmers: "Con trâu là đầu cơ nghiệp". They are treated as a member of the family: "Chồng cày, vợ cấy, con trâu đi bừa" ("The husband ploughs, the wife sows, water buffalo draw the rake") and are friends of the children. Children talk to their water buffalo, "Bao giờ cây lúa còn bông. Thì còn ngọn cỏ ngoài đồng trâu ăn." (Vietnamese children are responsible for grazing water buffalo. They will feed them a lot of grasses if they work laboriously for men.) In the old days, West Lake, Hà Nội had the name of Kim Ngưu- Golden Water Buffalo. According to the tale, the monk Không Lộ casted a colossal bell made of black bronze gathered from China by witchcraft. Many golden water buffalo ran from China to Vietnam because they thought its ring was the call of their mothers. That made the soil bang shut and formed a lake. The water buffalo ran deep into the lake and became the guardian god of the lake, thereafter called Golden Water Buffalo Lake.
• A golden water buffalo is the mascot of the 22nd Southeast Asian Games held in Vietnam as it represents the strength and martial spirit of the Vietnamese people.
• The water buffalo has also seen its appearance in a few Veggie Tales episodes, notably in the very first Silly Song with Larry, "The Water Buffalo Song", though it also appears briefly in the "Song of the Cebu", when Larry says: "Oh wait—that's a water Buffalo."
• The film Apocalypse Now depicts an actual ritual slaughter of a water buffalo by a Montagnard tribe during the film's climax.

Some popular water buffalo festivals

Fighting festivals

An unstaged water buffalo fight

• "Do Son" Water Buffalo Fighting Festival of Vietnam^[17][18] is held each year on the 9th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar at Do Son Township, Haiphong City in Vietnam. It is one of the most popular Vietnam festivals & events in Haiphong City. The preparations for this buffalo fighting festival begin right from the 5th and the 6th lunar month itself. The competing buffalo are selected and methodically trained months in advance. It is a traditional festival of Vietnam attached to a Water God worshipping ceremony and the “Hien Sinh” custom to show marital spirit of the local people of Do Son, Haiphong.

• "Hai Luu" Water Buffalo Fighting Festival of Vietnam^[19][20] According to ancient records, the buffalo fighting in Hai Luu Commune has existed from the 2nd century B.C. General Lu Gia at that time, had the buffalo slaughtered to give a feast to the local people and the warriors, and organized buffalo fighting for amusement. Eventually, all the fighting buffalo will be slaughtered as tributes to the deities.

• "Ko Samui" Water Buffalo Fighting Festival of Thiland^[21][22] is a very 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 Asian water buffalo are pitted against one another. Unlike in Spanish Bullfighting, wherein bulls get killed while fighting sword-wielding men, Buffalo Fighting Festival held at Ko Samui, Thailand is fairly harmless contest. The fighting season varies according to ancient customs & ceremonies. The first Buffalo to turn and run away is considered the loser, the winning buffalo becomes worth several million baht. Ko Samui is an island in the Gulf of Thailand in the South China, it is 700 km from Bangkok and is connected to it by regular flights.

Racing festivals

Water buffalo racing at Babulang 2006

• Chon Buri Water buffalo racing festival, Thailand:^[23] Thousands of people flock to this entertainment in downtown Chonburi, 70 kilometers (44 miles) south of Bangkok, at the annual water buffalo festival. About 300 buffalo race in groups of five or six, spurred on by bareback jockeys wielding wooden sticks, as hundreds of spectators cheer. The water buffalo has always played an important role in agriculture in Thailand. For farmers of Chon Buri Province, near Bangkok, it is an important annual festival, beginning in mid-October. It is also a celebration among rice farmers before the rice harvest. At dawn, farmers walk their buffalo through surrounding rice fields, splashing them with water to keep them cool before leading them to the race field. This amazing festival started over a hundred years ago when two men arguing about whose buffalo was the fastest ended up having a race between them. That’s how it became a tradition and gradually a social event for farmers who gathered from around the country in Chonburi to trade their goods. The festival also helps a great deal in preserving the number of buffalo, which have been dwindling at quite an alarming rate in other regions. Modern machinery is rapidly replacing buffalo in Thai agriculture. With most of the farm work mechanized, the buffalo-racing tradition has continued. Racing buffalo are now raised just to race, they don't work at all. Few farm buffalo which still do work are much bigger than the racers because of the strenuous work they perform. Farm buffalo are in the “Buffalo Beauty Pageant”, a Miss Farmer beauty contest and a comic buffalo costume contest etc.. This festival perfectly exemplifies a favored Thai attitude to life — "sanuk," meaning fun.

• Babulang Water buffalo racing festival, Sarawak, Malaysia: Babulang is the largest or grandest of the many rituals, ceremonies and festivals of the traditional Bisaya (Borneo) community of Limbang, Sarawak. Highlights are the Ratu Babulang competition and the Water buffalo races which can only be found in this town in Sarawak, Malaysia.

• Vihear Suor village Water buffalo racing festival, Cambodia:^[24] Each year, millions of Cambodians visit Buddhist temples across the country to honor their deceased loved ones during a 15-day period commonly known as the Festival of the Dead but in Vihear Suor village, about 22 miles northeast of the capital of Cambodia, Phnom Penh, citizens each year wrap up the festival with a water buffalo race to entertain visitors and honor a pledge made hundreds of years ago. There was a time when many village cattle which provide rural Cambodians with muscle power to plow their fields and transport agricultural products died from an unknown disease. The villagers prayed to a spirit to help save their animals from the disease and promised to show their gratitude by holding a buffalo race each year on the last day of “P'chum Ben” festival as it is known in Cambodian. The race draws hundreds of spectators who come to see riders and their animals charge down the racing field, the racers bouncing up and down on the backs of their buffalo, whose horns were draped with colorful cloth.

• Karapan Sapi racing festival, Madura, Indonesia: The Maduranese people of the island of Madura, East Java, Indonesia, race their strongest and fastest buffalo in races hold regularly a few times a year, typically in August, September and October. It is a very popular spectacle in the towns of Pamekasan, Sampang, and Bangkalan. Besides the prize (and the pride that comes with it), buffalo that win a race are regarded very valuable and are a lot more expensive than their peers. This motivates the owners to feed their buffalo unusual cocktails of high calory food comprising raw eggs, honey, and herbs in addition to their regular training regime to give them the edge.

See also

• Wild Asian water buffalo
• Water buffalo rumen ecology
• List of Domestic Asian Water buffalo breeds
• Gaur
• African buffalo (Wild)
• Zebu, the common breed of domestic cattle from India
• Sacred cows of India

References

• Clutton-Brock, J. 1999. A Natural History of Domesticated Mammals. Cambridge UK : Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521634954.
• Guinness Book of Records, 2005
• Huffman, B. 2006. The ultimate ungulate page. UltimateUngulate.com.
• International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN). 2006. Syncerus caffer, Bubalus bubalis, Bubalus quarlesi, Bubalus depressicornis Bubalus mindorensis.
• Ligda, D.J. 1996. The Water Buffalo. Website. [2]
• Massicot, P. 2004. Animal Info. Website Wild Asian (Water) Buffalo
• Nowak, R.M. and Paradiso, J.L. 1983. Walker's Mammals of the World. Baltimore, Maryland, USA: The Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0801825253
• Olson, T.J. 2006. Turkey Creek Water Buffalo Website [3] The best buffalo pictures!
• Voelker, W. 1986. The Natural History of Living Mammals. Medford, New Jersey, USA: Plexus Publishing, Inc. ISBN 0937548081.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Bos bubalus

• Asian Wild Buffalo (Bubalus bubalis Linnaeus, 1758) by P.K.Mathur, P.K. Malik and P.D. Muley. From the “Wildlife Institute of India” website.
• Pet Facts: Buffaloes
• Breeds of Livestock