Water buffalo

The water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis), also called domestic water buffalo, Asian water buffalo, and Asiatic water buffalo, is a large domesticated bovine originating in South and Southeast Asia descended from the wild water buffalo. Today, it is also kept in regions including Italy, the Balkans, Australia, the Americas, and parts of Africa. 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. The wild water buffalo (Bubalus arnee) is most probably the ancestor of the domestic water buffalo. Phylogenetic analysis indicates 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. Subsequently, 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. Water buffaloes were traded from the Indus Valley Civilisation to Mesopotamia, in modern Iraq, in 2500 BC by the Meluhhas. The seal of a scribe employed by an Akkadian king shows the sacrifice of water buffaloes. Water buffaloes are especially suitable for tilling rice fields, and their milk is richer in fat and protein than that of dairy cattle. Feral populations have naturalised in several countries.