Water buffalo

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.^[1] 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 from Assam in the west through Southeast Asia to the Yangtze Valley of China in the east.^[1][2]

The wild water buffalo (Bubalus arnee) is most probably the ancestor of the domestic water buffalo.^[3] Results of a phylogenetic study indicate that the river-type water buffalo probably originated in western India and was domesticated about 6,300 years ago, whereas the swamp-type originated independently from Mainland Southeast Asia and was domesticated about 3,000 to 7,000 years ago.^[4] 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.^[5][6][4]

Water buffaloes were traded from the Indus Valley Civilisation to Mesopotamia, in modern Iraq, in 2500 BC by the Meluhhas.^[7] The seal of a scribe employed by an Akkadian king shows the sacrifice of water buffaloes.^[8]

Water buffaloes 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.^[1] Feral herds are also present in New Britain, New Ireland, Irian Jaya, Colombia, Guyana, Suriname, Brazil, and Uruguay.^[9]