BUFFALO,
|
|
|
Photos.com
|
|
Buffalo
|
common name for several species of wild or domesticated oxen
native to Asia and Africa, of the family BOVIDAE, subfamily Bovinae.
Similar to CATTLE and some other ARTIODACTYL mammals, buffalo are
cud-chewing and have cloven hooves and permanent horns, but they
are much larger and more powerful than cattle. The so-called American
buffalo are more properly called BISON.
The Asian, or water, buffalo, Bubalus bubalis, is
a native of India and other parts of Asia. Measuring up to 1.8 m
(6 ft) at the shoulder, it has thick horns that sweep in an outward
curve back toward the shoulders and often extend more than 3.7 m
(12 ft) from tip to tip. Broad, splayed feet enable the animal to
live in a marshy habitat. The water buffalo has short, stiff, scanty
hair, but most of its hide is bare and glossy. In the wild, the water
buffalo is dangerous if aroused. It has been domesticated as a draft
animal since ancient times. In the Philippines the water buffalo
is known as the carabao. The tamarau, Anoa mindorensis, a
small, hairy variety of water buffalo, is native to the Philippine
island of Mindora, and measures only about 1.1 m (about 3.5 ft) high
at the shoulder. Two rare, related Anoa species
live on the Indonesian island of Celebes. Some authorities include
the tamarau in the genus Bubalus.
African buffalo include the cape buffalo, Syncerus
caffer, and the dwarf forest buffalo, S. nanus. The
cape buffalo, which inhabits most of southern and central Africa,
is large, measuring about 1.7 m (5.5 ft) at the shoulder. It is
noted for horns that are massive at the base, forming a helmet over
the forehead and reaching a length of about 1 m (3 ft). The dwarf
forest buffalo lives in forest areas of central and western Africa.
About 1.1 m (3.5 ft) high, it has a red hide and backward-curving
horns about 76 cm (30 in) long.
The world population of buffalo was estimated at more than
150 million in the mid-1990s. Of that total, India had about 53
percent; China, 15 percent; and Pakistan, 13 percent.