ruminant mammals of the family Cavicornia of the order Artiodactyla, similar to oxen. Buffalo have a heavy and bulky torso, a short neck, and short strong legs. The head is wide. The forward part of the upper lip is hairless and has on it the bare moist “nose mirror.” The skin on the lower part of the neck and chest on males forms a hanging fold (the so-called dewlap). The tail is long, with a brush of long hair on the end. The females have two pairs of teats. In distinction to oxen, the horns of buffalo have a triangular form in cross section. The hair on buffalo is short and sparse, and toward old age it disappears almost completely. Wild buffalo are found in southern Asia and in Africa (south of the Sahara). The ranges of wild buffalo are varied. They are herd animals, feeding on vegetation. The gestation period is about 12 months. The females bear one calf. There are three genera of buffalo, of which there are four species.
The Indian (water) buffalo, or arna (Bubalus arnee), is also known as the Asiatic buffalo and belongs to the genus Bubalus. It is a large animal, up to 180 cm tall at the withers and weighing up to 1,000 kg. They are distinguished by their extremely long (up to 2 m) horns, which are bent within one plane. Their color is dark, almost black. They live in moist, swampy forests and in undergrowths along river banks and reservoirs. They are found in India, on the Indochinese peninsula, and on the islands of Ceylon and Kalimantan. As a result of intense hunting by man, the wild water buffalo is rare. The second species of this genus, the Philippine buffalo (B. mindorensis) is distinguished by its much smaller size. (Height at the withers is up to 100 cm.) They are distributed only on the island of Mindoro (in the Philippines). They are very close to the Indian buffalo and are sometimes considered a subspecies of them.
One species, the anoa, which lives on the island of Sulawesi, belongs to the genus Anoa.
The African, or cape buffalo (Syncerus caffer), is the only example of the genus Syncerus. The base of the animal’s horns is broad and forms a caplike covering on the upper part of the head. They are widely distributed to the south of the Sahara. There are several geographical races, differentiated by size and coloring of the body. The largest of these buffalo are as large in size as the water buffalo. Formerly they were found in large herds. They are game animals and have been badly hunted out in places, and their numbers are small in a large part of their range. They live in the forest-steppe and on the open plains.
I. I. SOKOLOV
The Indian buffalo has been tamed by man since ancient times. In domesticated form they are distributed in southern Asia, Africa, and southern Europe. In the USSR they are raised in the Azerbaijan, Georgian, and Armenian SSR’s and in the Northern Caucasus. The buffalo are large animals, up to 130 cm high at the withers, 135 cm along the flank, and 190 cm around the chest. Their coat is most frequently black, and occasionally dark brown or dark gray; albinos can be found. The buffalo have a strong, coarse, wiry constitution. The liveweight of bulls is up to 700 kg; of cows, 450 kg (occasionally up to 600 kg); of castrated bulls (kyali), up to 500 kg; and of calves at birth, 30-40 kg. Buffalo are late-maturing animals. The first issue appears at an age of four years, and full development is reached at seven or eight years of age. Buffalo are used in agriculture until they are 20-30 years old, mainly as milk animals, often as draft animals. They are used for breeding until age 15-16. The fertility of cows is to 100 percent, and twins are rare. A technique of artificial insemination has been developed.
Buffalo are basically raised in regions with warm climates near rivers, irrigation canals, and other reservoirs. Buffalo eat coarse plant fodder, which is poorly utilized by other animals. The basic product of buffalo is milk. The yield of cows on kolkhoz and sovkhoz farms is 1,400-1,600 kg of milk, with a record of 3,500 kg. The fat content is 8.0-8.8 percent. Mechanical milking is used in farming. Butter, cheese, and brynza are made from buffalo milk. The meat is used for food; in working animals it is tough, but in calves it is more tender. When fed and fattened on rations with corn silage or sugar beet pulp mixed with concentrates and coarse fodder, buffalo show a weight gain of 750-850 g, and the dressed weight is 45 percent. The skin is tough, heavy (25-50 kg), porous, and thick (0.4-0.9 cm). Buffalo are resistant to haemosporidiosis and malignant anthrax, easily endure foot-and-mouth disease, and the females do not abort during brucellosis. Planned breed work with buffalo is carried on in the Azerbaijan SSR, where the Dashiuzskii Breed Farm has been organized and where kolkhoz breed farms have been created.
A. A. AGABEILI