Buffalo and its varieties

A buffalo is a ruminant from the family of bovids, a subfamily of bulls, and a cloven-hoofed detachment. Previously, all buffalo were attributed to the genus Bubalus. Now only Asian is attributed to him, the rest are identified in the genus Anoa and Syncerus. The closest relatives of the buffalo are baten, gaura, cupri, as well as the American bison, yak and bison living in the temperate zone. Buffaloes are common in the southern regions of Asia, on some islands of Oceania, in Africa.

Domestic Asian buffalo

Domestic buffalo can be seen in the fields of southeast Asia, it is widely used in various sectors of the household. Buffalo milk is very oily and nutritious nourishing, although the milk yield is not as large as that of cows. Since this species is not considered sacred, buffalo meat is actively used in India. It is slightly tougher than beef, but quite edible.

They breed buffalo as pets in some countries of Europe (Italy, Greece, Hungary). Buffalo milk is used to make the famous Italian mozzarella cheese, although a product made according to the original recipe is now difficult to find. Most producers use cow’s milk.

Small island buffaloes

In the Philippines, or rather, on the small island of Mindoro, there lives a small dwarf buffalo tamarou. Its height is only 110 cm, the length of the body is 2-3 meters, and its weight is 180-300 kg.In appearance, it looks more like an antelope than a buffalo. The horns of the tamarou buffalo are flat, bent back, each about 40 cm long. They form a triangle at the base. The coat is liquid, black or chocolate, sometimes gray.

100-150 years ago, the places where the tamarou buffalo live were sparsely populated. On the island of Mindoro, there was a very dangerous strain of malaria, they were afraid to master it. Animals could calmly walk through the tropical thickets without fear of anything, because there are no large predators on the island, and tamarou is the largest species there. But they learned to fight malaria, the island began to be actively populated, which led to a sharp decline in the population. Now in the world there are no more than 100-200 individuals of this species, it is listed in the Red Book.

Another small buffalo lives on the island of Sulawesi. It is called anoa, even smaller in size than tamarou. Anoa is only 80 cm tall and body is 160 cm long. Females weigh about 150 kg and males weigh 300 kg. There is almost no hair on their body, the skin color is black. Calves are born almost red. There are two varieties of this buffalo: mountain and flat buffalo Anoa. In flat Anoa, there are straight horns with a triangular cut, about 25 cm long. In mountain Anoa, they are twisted and round.

The small island buffalo has a lifespan of about 20 years, which is much longer than other species. Anoa are now extremely rare.Despite the fact that they are protected in Indonesia, animals often become victims of poachers. Wherever a person appears, an active development of the territory begins.

Sulawesi is one of the most densely populated islands, because there is less and less space for anoa, which is not having the best effect on the population. Perhaps soon this view will be visible only in photos and videos.

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Anna Evans

Author ✓ Farmer

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