Animal Diversity Web

Ge­o­graphic Range

Asian water buf­falo, Bubalus bubalis, has been heav­ily do­mes­ti­cated and thus is now wide­spread. The sus­pected na­tive do­main of B. bubalis was from Cen­tral India to south­ern Nepal in the west to Viet­nam and Malaysia in the east. It is be­lieved that true wild pop­u­la­tions still sur­vive in parts of India, Nepal, Bhutan, and Thai­land. Do­mes­ti­cated and or feral pop­u­la­tions are very wide­spread. River buf­falo (a do­mes­ti­cated va­ri­ety) are found more in the west and re­side in In­dochina, the Mediter­ranean, and parts of South and Cen­tral Amer­ica. Swamp buf­falo (an­other va­ri­ety under do­mes­ti­ca­tion) are more east­erly in dis­tri­b­u­tion and in­habit In­dochina and South­east Asia as well as Aus­tralia. (Gu­rung and Singh, 1996; Ligda, 1999a; Mac­don­ald, 2001; Nowak, 1999; Shack­le­ton and Harestad, 2003; Singh, et al., 2000)

• Biogeographic Regions
• palearctic
  • introduced
• oriental
  • native
• neotropical
  • introduced
• australian
  • introduced

Habi­tat

In the wild, water buf­falo are found in trop­i­cal and sub­trop­i­cal forests as well as wet grass­lands. They are con­sid­ered ter­res­trial but are heav­ily de­pen­dent on water and spend a ma­jor­ity of time wal­low­ing in rivers or mud holes. Thus, B. bubalis is found in wet habi­tats rang­ing from river­ine forests and grass­lands, to marshes and swamps. These habi­tats are a mix­ture of tall grasses, rivers and streams, and a scat­ter­ing of trees and forests. Such an en­vi­ron­ment pro­vides B. bubalis with ad­e­quate water for drink­ing and wal­low­ing, abun­dant food, and dense cover.

In gen­eral, water buf­falo are found in lower el­e­va­tions, but in Nepal, swamp buf­falo can com­monly be found at el­e­va­tions of 2,800 m. Do­mes­ti­cated an­i­mals are wide­spread, and there­fore are found in a wide va­ri­ety of habi­tats. The ma­jor­ity of the do­mes­ti­cated water buf­falo are found in agri­cul­tural com­mu­ni­ties, but they can also be found in many cities. (Gu­rung and Singh, 1996; Ligda, 1999b; Mac­don­ald, 2001; Nowak, 1999; Shack­le­ton and Harestad, 2003)

• Habitat Regions
• temperate
• tropical
• terrestrial

• Terrestrial Biomes
• savanna or grassland
• forest

• Aquatic Biomes
• lakes and ponds
• rivers and streams
• temporary pools

• Wetlands
• marsh
• swamp

• Other Habitat Features
• urban
• suburban
• agricultural
• riparian

• Range elevation

  0 to 2800 m

  0.00 to 9186.35 ft

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

Bubalus bubalis is a large an­i­mal. In­di­vid­u­als stand 1.5 to 1.9 m in height at the shoul­der, and have large feet with splayed hooves. The face is long and nar­row, with rather small ears and large horns. The horns of this species have the widest spread found in any bovid. Un­like African buf­falo, in which the bases of the horns al­most meet at the fore­head, the bases of the horns in Asian water buf­falo are far apart. Both sexes bear horns, al­though those of the fe­male are smaller than those of the male. Horns of both sexes are heavy set at the base, ribbed, and are tri­an­gu­lar in cross-sec­tion.

Bubalus bubalis has a body length of 240 to 300 cm and a tail length of 60 to 100 cm. Wild male water buf­falo weigh up to 1,200 kg, and fe­males can weigh up to 800 kg. Do­mes­ti­cated water buf­falo range from 250 to 550 kg.

Water buf­falo have sparse hair that is long and ashy gray to black. Their rel­a­tively long tail is bushy at the tip. Their legs are often dirty white up to the knees. Adult buf­falo are al­most hair­less and their skin color varies with weather con­di­tions, though it is dif­fi­cult to as­cer­tain the skin color, as these an­i­mals are usu­ally cov­ered with mud. When not mud cov­ered and dry, the skin is dark grey; how­ever, when moist (and not mud cov­ered), the skin is dark brown to black. Swamp buf­falo (a va­ri­ety of B. bubalis under do­mes­ti­ca­tion) are more ashy gray in color, has a droop­ing neck, and horns that are swept back and out, whereas river buf­falo (the other do­mes­ti­cated va­ri­ety) are more black and have tightly curled horns.

A closely re­lated species found in the Philip­pines is Bubalus min­doren­sis, or tama­raw. It is smaller than B. bubalis, weigh­ing 300 kg and stand­ing 100 cm at the shoul­der. Tama­raws have more hair than Asian water buf­falo, are dark brown to black, and have shorter horns. (Lek­agul and Mc­Neely, 1988; Ligda, 1999a; Mac­don­ald, 2001; Nowak, 1999; Phillips, 1984; Prater, 1971; Shack­le­ton and Harestad, 2003; Singh, et al., 2000)

• Other Physical Features
• endothermic
• homoiothermic
• bilateral symmetry

• Sexual Dimorphism
• male larger
• ornamentation

• Range mass

  250 to 1200 kg

  550.66 to 2643.17 lb

• Range length

  240 to 300 cm

  94.49 to 118.11 in

Re­pro­duc­tion

Mat­ing is typ­i­cally polyg­y­nous. Ma­ter­nal groups exist in a large, loosely struc­tured herds year round. Dur­ing the wet sea­son, adult males (from bach­e­lor groups or soli­tary) enter the fe­male groups, and mate with, but do not con­trol, the re­cep­tive fe­males who are in es­trus for 11 to 72 hours. After mat­ing, males are dri­ven off. Male bovids in gen­eral dis­play dom­i­nance by pos­ture and move­ment, and few con­flicts es­ca­late to lev­els of se­ri­ous in­jury. Bulls de­ter­mine es­trus by sniff­ing a cow’s urine and gen­i­tals. (Lek­agul and Mc­Neely, 1988; Ligda, 1999c; Nowak, 1999; Shack­le­ton and Harestad, 2003)

• Mating System
• polygynous

Tim­ing of re­pro­duc­tion in this species is some­what vari­able. In some areas, breed­ing is sea­son­ally de­pen­dent, whereas in other areas it is sea­son­ally in­de­pen­dent. Where sea­son­ally de­pen­dent, breed­ing often oc­curs after the rainy sea­son and calves are born the fol­low­ing year near the be­gin­ning of the rainy sea­son. Where sea­son­ally in­de­pen­dent, calves may be born year round.

The es­trus cycle is 21 days. Of fe­male bovids, water buf­falo have the longest ges­ta­tion pe­riod: 300 to 340 days. Fe­males usu­ally have one calf, but they may have twins. A fe­male typ­i­cally pro­duces an av­er­age of one calf every two years. Calves are born weigh­ing 35 to 40 kg, and are red to yel­low brown. Nurs­ing lasts 6 to 9 months.

Fe­males reach sex­ual ma­tu­rity at ap­prox­i­mately 1.5 years of age and re­main in a ma­ter­nal group within a larger herd. Males reach sex­ual ma­tu­rity at the age of 3 years, at which point they leave the fe­male group and often join bach­e­lor groups. (Lek­agul and Mc­Neely, 1988; Ligda, 1999c; Nowak, 1999; Shack­le­ton and Harestad, 2003)

• Key Reproductive Features
• iteroparous
• seasonal breeding
• year-round breeding
• gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
• sexual
• fertilization
• viviparous

• Breeding interval

  Females are capable of producing one calf every two years.

• Breeding season

  Most breeding in seasonal populatons occurs in October and November. However, some populations can breed year round.

• Range number of offspring

  1 to 2

• Average number of offspring

  1

• Average number of offspring

  1.375

  AnAge

• Range gestation period

  300 to 340 days

• Range weaning age

  6 to 9 months

• Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)

  1.5 years

• Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)
  Sex: female

  502 days

  AnAge

• Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)

  3 years

Males only ex­hibit mat­ing ef­fort, and after im­preg­nat­ing the fe­males show no fur­ther parental in­vest­ment. Fe­males ex­hibit all parental care of the young. Fe­males nurse their calves from 6 to 9 months. Be­fore in­de­pen­dence, fe­males also pro­tect their calves and can be ag­gres­sive. At age 3 males leave ma­ter­nal group. Fe­males re­main in their ma­ter­nal group, and in­herit the loose ter­ri­tory of the larger fe­male herd which is com­posed of mul­ti­ple ma­ter­nal groups. (Gu­rung and Singh, 1996; Mac­don­ald, 2001; Nowak, 1999; Shack­le­ton and Harestad, 2003)

• Parental Investment
• no parental involvement
• precocial
• female parental care
• pre-fertilization
  • protecting
    • female
• pre-hatching/birth
  • provisioning
    • female
  • protecting
    • female
• pre-weaning/fledging
  • provisioning
    • female
  • protecting
    • female
• pre-independence
  • protecting
    • female
• post-independence association with parents
• inherits maternal/paternal territory

Lifes­pan/Longevity

Water buf­falo are known to have a life of up to 25 years in the wild, and a longevity of up to 29 years in cap­tiv­ity. (Nowak, 1999)

• Range lifespan
  Status: wild

  25 (high) years

• Range lifespan
  Status: captivity

  29 (high) years

• Average lifespan
  Status: captivity

  34.9 years

  AnAge

Be­hav­ior

Bubalus bubalis is so­cial. Wild water buf­falo com­monly form co­he­sive herds vary­ing from 10 to 20 in­di­vid­u­als, al­though herds of up to 100 in­di­vid­u­als have been ob­served. In Aus­tralia, feral water buf­falo form herds of up to 30 in­di­vid­u­als con­sist­ing of adult fe­males, their off­spring, and sub-adult fe­males. These herds oc­cupy a home range that pro­vides areas for feed­ing, drink­ing, wal­low­ing, and rest­ing. A dom­i­nance hi­er­ar­chy ex­ists within these groups with the leader being an old cow.

At the age of three, males leave fe­male herds, often form­ing bach­e­lor herds. Bach­e­lor herds may have up to 10 mem­bers. These herds typ­i­cally have a slightly larger ranges than do fe­male groups. Older males are often soli­tary, but have been ob­served in fe­male herds year round.

Water buf­falo are both di­ur­nal and noc­tur­nal. They are more sen­si­tive to heat than most bovids be­cause they have fewer sweat glands. Thus, water buf­falo are known for wal­low­ing in mud. Wal­low­ing in mud helps to cool the an­i­mal be­cause water in mud evap­o­rates more slowly than just water alone, thus ex­tend­ing the pe­riod of cool­ing. Wal­low­ing also serves to cake the an­i­mal with mud, which pro­tects it from bit­ing in­sects.

Water buf­falo often graze in the morn­ing and evening. Dur­ing hot­ter parts of the day, they rest in patches of dense cover, wal­low in mud holes, or com­pletely sub­merge them­selves in water with only their nos­trils and eyes ex­posed. When de­prived of wal­low­ing grounds, water buf­falo often seek shade to al­le­vi­ate the stress of heat. (Gu­rung and Singh, 1996; Mac­don­ald, 2001; Nowak, 1999; Phillips, 1984; Prater, 1971; Shack­le­ton and Harestad, 2003)

• Key Behaviors
• terricolous
• diurnal
• nocturnal
• motile
• sedentary
• social
• dominance hierarchies

Home Range

Fe­male feral water buf­falo in Aus­tralia form clans, con­sist­ing of moth­ers and daugh­ters, that are made up of roughly 30 in­di­vid­u­als. Each of these clans has a home range vary­ing from 170 to 1,000 ha. These clans can form a herd of 30 to 500 in­di­vid­u­als which meet nightly at a com­mu­nal rest­ing area. Males form bach­e­lor groups of up to 10 in­di­vid­u­als with slightly larger ranges. Male ranges over­lap those of fe­male groups. (Nowak, 1999)

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Per­cep­tion

In gen­eral, bovids com­mu­ni­cate through pos­ture and move­ment. Herds often grunt and snort to each other as they travel, while bel­low­ing is rare. Bulls often snort and stamp the ground be­fore charg­ing. Charg­ing may occur as a means of de­fense, or as an ag­gres­sive dis­play of dom­i­nance, as seen in mate com­pe­ti­tion. Bubalus bubalis has a well de­vel­oped sense of smell, and checmi­cal cues seem to be im­por­tant, at least in mat­ing. These an­i­mals also have acute hear­ing. Water buf­falo are not highly de­pen­dent on sight. Al­though phys­i­cal ag­gres­sion is rare, some tac­tile com­mu­ni­ca­tion oc­curs be­tween mates, as well as be­tween moth­ers and their young. (Gu­rung and Singh, 1996; Mac­don­ald, 2001; Phillips, 1984; Prater, 1971; Shack­le­ton and Harestad, 2003)

• Communication Channels
• visual
• tactile
• acoustic
• chemical

• Perception Channels
• visual
• tactile
• acoustic
• chemical

Food Habits

Bubalus bubalis is a ru­mi­nant and is pre­dom­i­nately a grazer on grasses. It also eats herbs, aquatic plants, leaves, agri­cul­tural crops, and var­i­ous other veg­e­ta­tion that grows in or along rivers and streams. (Gu­rung and Singh, 1996; Lek­agul and Mc­Neely, 1988; Mac­don­ald, 2001; Phillips, 1984; Shack­le­ton and Harestad, 2003)

• Primary Diet
• herbivore
  • folivore

• Plant Foods
• leaves
• wood, bark, or stems
• macroalgae

Pre­da­tion

In gen­eral, the horns of bovids are ef­fec­tive anti-preda­tor de­ter­rents. Hu­mans have been a sig­nif­i­cant threat to water buf­falo, both through hunt­ing and through habi­tat en­croach­ment and frag­men­ta­tion. Tigers are the only other preda­tor on water buf­falo, though water buf­falo are chal­leng­ing prey even to so large a cat. When con­fronted by a tiger, water buf­falo often stand to­gether as a herd and charge to­gether in a line. They are usu­ally suc­cess­ful at dri­ving tigers off, and water buf­falo have been known to kill tigers with their horns. Tigers often have their suc­cess stalk­ing sin­gle an­i­mals and fo­cus­ing on ju­ve­niles. (Lek­agul and Mc­Neely, 1988; Prater, 1971; Lek­agul and Mc­Neely, 1988; Mac­don­ald, 2001; Prater, 1971; Shack­le­ton and Harestad, 2003)

• Known Predators

  • humans (Homo sapiens)
  • tigers (Panthera tigris)

Ecosys­tem Roles

Bubalus bubalis is preyed upon by tigers, thus pro­vid­ing a food source for top preda­tors. Re­mains of dead water buf­falo are also fed upon by var­i­ous scav­engers. Large herds have been shown to im­pact the nest­ing sites of some birds such as mag­pie geese. Water buf­falo have proven de­struc­tive to caimans and their nest­ing sites in Brazil, ad­versely af­fect­ing the caimans' pro­duc­tiv­ity and long-term den­sity. Large herds of water buf­falo also may dam­age cer­tain flora, ei­ther di­rectly by tram­pling or graz­ing, or in­di­rectly by soil com­paction. Water buf­falo have been blamed for ex­ac­er­bat­ing the spread of ex­otic weeds in north­ern Aus­tralia. Fi­nally, their ex­cre­ment pro­vides fer­til­izer for var­i­ous flora. (Cam­pos, 1993; Cor­bett, et al., 1996; Fen­sham and Cowie, 1998; Lek­agul and Mc­Neely, 1988; Phillips, 1984; Prater, 1971)

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive

The do­mes­ti­ca­tion of water buf­falo 5,000 years ago has made them eco­nom­i­cally im­por­tant an­i­mals. They pro­vide more than 5% of the world’s milk sup­ply. Their milk is ex­ceed­ingly rich, hav­ing less water and more fat, lac­tose, and pro­tein than cow milk. It is used to make but­ter, but­ter oil (ghee), high qual­ity cheeses, and var­i­ous other prod­ucts. Their meat is very ten­der and palat­able and is dif­fi­cult to dif­fer­en­ti­ate from beef. Their hides also are of sig­nif­i­cant im­por­tance in that they make su­perb leather prod­ucts. They are a note­wor­thy beast of bur­den through­out much of their range. Water buf­falo are equiv­a­lent to trac­tors in South­east Asia, pro­vid­ing 20% to 30% of farm power; they also serve as means of trans­porta­tion, and their dung is col­lected and used as fer­til­izer. Lastly, water buf­falo are also im­por­tant for some hunt­ing busi­nesses. (Ligda, 1999d; Nowak, 1999; Shack­le­ton and Harestad, 2003; Singh, et al., 2000)

• Positive Impacts
• food
• body parts are source of valuable material
• produces fertilizer

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Neg­a­tive

Water buf­falo are de­ter­mined an­i­mals, and they are very large. They may break into fields and con­sume pro­duce. They are known to dam­age rice pad­dys and other grow­ing crops. Wild bulls have been known to in­vade do­mes­ti­cated herds, killing the less ca­pa­ble do­mes­ti­cated bull, and breed­ing with re­cep­tive fe­males. There­fore, loss is in­curred through the death of the tame bull. Fur­ther­more, the re­sult­ing off­spring are less docile and pos­si­bly too large to fit a farmer's equip­ment. Oc­ca­sion­ally, wild bulls not only in­vade tame herds, but also take over and drive off own­ers, keep­ing the herd for them­selves. Lastly, wild or feral water buf­falo are dan­ger­ous an­i­mals. Fe­males with young can be very de­fen­sive and are known to charge and to in­jure hu­mans. Bulls that are wounded are ex­tremely dan­ger­ous and have been known to kill hu­mans that are stalk­ing them. (Lek­agul and Mc­Neely, 1988; Phillips, 1984)

• Negative Impacts
• injures humans
• crop pest

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

Al­though do­mes­ti­cated water buf­falo are thriv­ing and are dis­trib­uted well be­yond their na­tive range, true wild water buf­falo are in jeop­ardy. It may be that no true wild water buf­falo exist, but have been lost to in­ter­breed­ing with do­mes­ti­cated or feral buf­falo. It is dif­fi­cult to dis­tin­guish be­tween wild water buf­falo, feral, do­mes­ti­cated, and their hy­brids, thus mak­ing their ac­tual sta­tus un­cer­tain. They are cur­rently listed as en­dan­gered under the IUCN Red List of Threat­ened Species, and it is es­ti­mated that there are less than 1,000 wild water buf­falo re­main­ing. These sus­pected wild in­di­vid­u­als re­side in small parts of India, Bhutan, Nepal, and Thai­land. The pos­si­bil­ity of ex­tinc­tion of wild pop­u­la­tions is quite real.

The major threats to the species in­clude con­tin­ued habi­tat de­struc­tion and frag­men­ta­tion as agri­cul­tural land use ex­pands; hunt­ing; and in­ter­breed­ing with do­mes­tic and feral buf­falo. Other se­ri­ous threats in­clude com­pe­ti­tion with do­mes­tic live­stock, and dis­eases car­ried by do­mes­tic live­stock.

Wild water buf­falo are legally pro­tected in Bhutan, Nepal, India, and Thai­land on na­ture re­serves, and are listed in CITES under Ap­pen­dix III (Nepal). Con­ser­va­tion pro­grams are fo­cus­ing on pre­serv­ing their habi­tat, which is be­com­ing in­creas­ingly dif­fi­cult as human pop­u­la­tions ex­pand. (Choud­hury, 1994; Hedges, 1996; Heinen, 1993; Mac­don­ald, 2001; Shack­le­ton and Harestad, 2003)

• IUCN Red List

  Endangered
  More information

• IUCN Red List

  Endangered
  More information

• US Federal List

  No special status

• CITES

  Appendix III

Other Com­ments

Due to do­mes­ti­ca­tion, some au­thor­i­ties use Bubalus arnee or Bubalus arni to refer to true wild water buf­falo, and Bubalus bubalis to refer to do­mes­ti­cated buf­falo. Fur­ther­more, some au­thor­i­ties di­vide do­mes­ti­cated buf­falo into two sub­species: swamp buf­falo, Bubalus bubalis cara­bane­sis, and the river buf­falo, Bubalus bubalis bubalis. This re­port fol­lows au­thor­i­ties that use Bubalus bubalis to refer to Asian water buf­falo, whether wild or do­mes­ti­cated. (Gu­rung and Singh, 1996; Lek­agul and Mc­Neely, 1988; Mac­don­ald, 2001; Nowak, 1999; Shack­le­ton and Harestad, 2003)

Con­trib­u­tors

Nancy Shef­ferly (ed­i­tor), An­i­mal Di­ver­sity Web.

Jason Roth (au­thor), Uni­ver­sity of Michi­gan-Ann Arbor, Phil Myers (ed­i­tor, in­struc­tor), Mu­seum of Zo­ol­ogy, Uni­ver­sity of Michi­gan-Ann Arbor.

Ref­er­ences

Cam­pos, Z. 1993. Ef­fect of habi­tat on sur­vival of eggs and sex ratio of hatch­lings of Caiman croc­o­dilus yacare in the Pan­tanal, Brazil. Jour­nal of Her­petol­ogy, 27: 127-132.

Choud­hury, A. 1994. The de­cline of the wild water buf­falo in north-east India. Oryx, 28: 70-73.

Cor­bett, L., A. Her­tog, W. Muller. 1996. An ex­per­i­men­tal study of the im­pact of feral swamp buf­falo Bubalus bubalis on the breed­ing habi­tat and nest­ing suc­cess of mag­pie geese Anser­anas semi­palmata in Kakadu Na­tional Park. Bi­o­log­i­cal Con­ser­va­tion, 76: 277-287.

Fen­sham, R., I. Cowie. 1998. Alien plant in­va­sions on the Tiwi Is­lands. Ex­tent, im­pli­ca­tions and pri­or­i­ties for con­trol. Bi­o­log­i­cal Con­ser­va­tion, 83: 55-68.

Gu­rung, K., R. Singh. 1996. Field Guide to the Mam­mals of the In­dian Sub­con­ti­nent. Lon­don: Aca­d­e­mic Press Lim­ited.

Hedges, S. 1996. "Species In­for­ma­tion" (On-line). The IUCN Red List of Threat­ened Species. Ac­cessed Feb­ru­ary 07, 2004 at http://​www.​redlist.​org/​search/​details.​php?​species=3129.

Heinen, J. 1993. Pop­u­la­tion vi­a­bil­ity and man­age­ment rec­om­men­da­tions for wild water buf­falo Bubalus bubalis in Kosi Tappu Wildlife Re­serve, Nepal. Bi­o­log­i­cal Con­ser­va­tion, 65: 29-34.

Lek­agul, B., J. Mc­Neely. 1988. Mam­mals of Thai­land. Bangkok, Thai­land: Darn­sutha Press.

Ligda, D. 1999. "In­tro­duc­tion, Breeds, Ge­net­ics" (On-line). Water Buf­falo. Ac­cessed Jan­u­ary 31, 2004 at http://​ww2.​netnitco.​net/​users/​djligda/​waterbuf.​htm.

Ligda, D. 1999. "Milk" (On-line). Water buf­falo. Ac­cessed Jan­u­ary 31, 2004 at http://​ww2.​netnitco.​net/​users/​djligda/​waterbuf.​htm.

Ligda, D. 1999. "Re­pro­duc­tion" (On-line). Water Buf­falo. Ac­cessed Jan­u­ary 31, 2004 at http://​ww2.​netnitco.​net/​users/​djligda/​waterbuf.​htm.

Ligda, D. 1999. "Work" (On-line). Water Buf­falo. Ac­cessed Jan­u­ary 31, 2004 at http://​ww2.​netnitco.​net/​users/​djligda/​waterbuf.​htm.

Mac­don­ald, D. 2001. Wild Cat­tle and Spi­ral-Horned An­te­lope. Pp. 530-539 in G Bate­man, T Allan, M Salad, eds. The New En­cy­clo­pe­dia of Mam­mals. New York: Ox­ford Uni­ver­sity Press.

Nowak, R. 1999. Walker's Mam­mals of the World, Sixth Edi­tion. Bal­ti­more and Lon­don: The Johns Hop­kins Uni­ver­sity Press.

Phillips, W. 1984. Man­ual of the Mam­mals of Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka: Wildlife and Na­ture Pro­tec­tion So­ci­ety of Sri Lanka.

Prater, S. 1971. The Book of In­dian An­i­mals. Bom­bay, India: Bom­bay Nat­ural His­tory So­ci­ety.

Shack­le­ton, D., A. Harestad. 2003. Bovids I - Kudus, buf­faloes, and bison. Pp. 11-25 in M Hutchins, D Kleiman, V Geist, M Mc­Dade, eds. Grz­imek's An­i­mal Life En­cy­lo­pe­dia, Vol. 16, 2nd Edi­tion. Farm­ing­ton Hills, MI: Gale Group.

Singh, J., A. Nanda, G. Adams. 2000. The re­pro­duc­tive pat­tern and ef­fi­ciency of fe­male buf­faloes. An­i­mal Re­pro­duc­tion Sci­ence, 60-61: 593-604.