Water buffalo
| Domestic Asian Water buffalo | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | |
| Phylum: | |
| Class: | |
| Order: | |
| Family: | |
| Subfamily: | |
| Tribe: | Bovini
|
| Genus: | Bubalus
|
| Species: | B. bubalis
|
| Binomial name | |
| Bubalus bubalis | |
Water buffaloes are a kind of bovine. There are Wild Asian Water Buffaloes and domestic buffaloes or domestic Asian water buffalo. They are bred in Asia, South America and in Southern Europe. They were bred from the Wild Asian Water Buffalo, which is now an endangered species.
Today, these buffaloes are used for their milk, which has more fat than that of cows. The milk is processed to make Mozzarella, and curd. Feral populations are sometimes used to manage uncontrolled growth of vegetation around wetlands. They will simply graze it off. This keeps such bodies of water usable by birds and other wildlife.[1][2]
Females normally give birth to calves every other year. Young bulls usually stay with herds of mothers, which have about 30 buffalo, for three years after birth.[3] They then go on to form small all-male herds.[3]
Water buffalo have been kept by humans for more than 5,000 years.[3] They have helped humans with their meat, horns, hides, milk, butterfat, and power, plowing and transporting people and crops.[3]
Wild water buffalo are endangered.[3] They live only in a small number of protected areas in countries like India, Nepal, Bhutan, and Thailand.[3]
References
[change | change source]- ↑ Buffalo improve wildlife habitat - The Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales use the formidable beasts to help in conservation work at the 264-acre Teifi Marshes reserve; BBC, 15 February, 2004
- ↑ "Buffalos and wetlands" -- grazing in wetland management: A discussion from the Ramsar Forum over late March 1998
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 "Water Buffalo, Water Buffalo Pictures, Water Buffalo Facts - National Geographic". animals.nationalgeographic.com. 12 March 2010. Retrieved 1 April 2010.