WATER BUFFALO

Class: MAMMALIA

Order: ARTIODACTYLA

Family: BOVIDAE

Genus: BUBALIS

Species: BUBALIS, ARNEE

This large mammal species-group is typically divided into two species in all – the wild water buffalo [Bubalus arnee] and its domesticated counterpart [Bubalus bubalis]. The two differ dramatically in terms of population – where the wild water buffalo is considered as an endangered species, of which less than 4000 animals are believed to remain, the domesticated buffalo appears to thrive well – with over 160 million domestic water buffalo existing worldwide, farmed mainly for milk, meat and as a draught-animal. The domestic water buffalo can be split further into two sub-species – the river buffalo [B. bubalis bubalis] and swamp buffalo [B. bubalis carabanesis], which are distinct in chromosome number – river animals have 48 chromosomes, where their swamp relatives have 50, and hybrids of the two subspecies appear to have 49. In domestication, the water-buffalo can be split further still, into over 100 distinct domestic breeds. The two subspecies of buffalo seem to have evolved separately, and also domesticated separately – the river buffalo was domesticated some 6000 years ago, and its swamp relative some 5000 or so years, give or take an extra 2000 years. Its genus, Bubalis, is shared with the 2 species of anoa, and the Tamaraw, a small buffalo of the island of Mindoro.