Buffed to perfection

The water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis), also called the domestic water buffalo or Asian water buffalo, is a large bovid originating in the Indian subcontinent and southeast Asia.

TODAY, it is also found in Europe, North and South America, some African countries and, of course, in Australia, notably the Top End of the Northern Territory as well as on farms in a number of other states.

The wild water buffalo () is probably the ancestor of the domestic water buffalo from which ours are derived. Genetic studies indicate that the river-type water buffalo probably originated in western India and was domesticated about 6300 years ago, whereas the swamp-type originated independently in mainland Southeast Asia and was domesticated about 3000 to 7000 years ago. River buffalo dispersed west as far as Egypt, the Balkans and Italy; swamp buffalo dispersed