Both male and female water buffalo wear the species’ signature
backward-curving horns, although the females’ horns are significantly
smaller.
The water buffalo, or Asian buffalo, as it is often called, is the
largest member of the Bovini tribe, which includes yak, bison, African
buffalo, various species of wild cattle, and others.
Standing 5 to
6.2 feet (1.5 to 1.9 meters) tall at the shoulder, wild water buffalo
are formidable mammals with sparse gray-black coats. Males carry
enormous backward-curving, crescent-shaped horns stretching close to 5
feet (1.5 meters) long with deep ridges on their surface. Females are
smaller in size and weight, but they also have horns, although they are
proportionately smaller.
Water buffalo spend much of their day
submerged in the muddy waters of Asia’s tropical and subtropical
forests. Their wide-splayed hoofed feet prevent them from sinking too
deeply in the mud and allow them to move about in wetlands and swamps.
These marshes provide good cover and rich aquatic plants to forage on,
although water buffalo actually prefer to feed in grasslands on grass
and herbs.
Females normally produce calves every other year, after
a gestation of 9 to 11 months. Young bulls typically remain with
maternal herds, which consist of around 30 buffalo, for three years
after birth. They then go on to form small all-male herds.
Water
buffalo have been domesticated for more than 5,000 years. They have
buttressed humanity’s survival with their meat, horns, hides, milk,
butterfat, and power, plowing and transporting people and crops.
Wild
water buffalo are endangered and live only in a small number of
protected areas stretching across India, Nepal, and Bhutan, and a
wildlife reserve in Thailand. And populations are likely to diminish as
they are interbred with domesticated water buffalo.
Fast Facts
- Type:
- Mammal
- Diet:
- Herbivore
- Average life span in captivity:
- Up to 25 years
- Size:
- Head and body, 8 to 9 ft (2.4 to 2.7 m); Tail 2 to 3.3 ft (60 to 100 cm)
- Weight:
- 1,500 to 2,650 lbs (700 to 1,200 kg)
- Group name:
- Herd
- Protection status:
- Endangered
- Did you know?
- The domesticated water buffalo is often referred to as the “living tractor of the East,” as it is relied upon for plowing and transportation in many parts of Asia.
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