Buffalo (oxen)

Buffalo (oxen), wild or domesticated oxen native to Asia and Africa. Like domestic 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 is a native of India and other parts of Asia. Measuring up to 1.8 m (6 ft) at the shoulder, the water buffalo has thick horns that sweep in an outward curve back toward the shoulders and may extend up to 1.2 m (3.9 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, and a large portion of the hide is bare and glossy. In the wild, the water buffalo is dangerous if aroused. The animal has been domesticated, however, and has been used as a draft animal since ancient times. In the Philippines the water buffalo is known as the carabao. Another Asian buffalo is the tamarau, a small, hairy variety of water buffalo. Native to the Philippine island of Mindoro, this animal is only about 1.1 m (about 3.5 ft) high at the shoulder. Two rare, related species live on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi (Celebes).

African buffalo include the cape buffalo and the dwarf forest buffalo; both are different forms of the same species. The cape buffalo, which inhabits most of southern and central Africa, is large, measuring about 1.7 m (about 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 (about 3 ft). The dwarf forest buffalo lives in forest areas of central and western Africa. About 1.1 m (about 3.5 ft) high, it has a red hide and backward-curving horns about 76 cm (about 30 in) long.

Scientific classification: Buffalo belong to the family Bovidae, subfamily Bovinae. The Asian buffalo is classified as Bubalus bubalis, the tamarau as Bubalus mindorensis. The cape buffalo and the dwarf forest buffalo are different forms of Syncerus caffer.