Bubalus bubalis: A Short Story

Abstract

The domestic buffalo (Bubalus bubalis), also known as water buffalo or Asian buffalo to prevent confusion with the American bison (Bison bison), wrongly named buffalo in North America, comprises two subspecies: the river buffalo (B. bubalis bubalis) and the swamp buffalo (B. bubalis kerebau). The swamp buffalo has a consistent phenotype and is considered as one type, even if many breeds are recognized within it; conversely, the river buffalo subspecies has many breeds. We found limited information available regarding the worldwide distribution of buffaloes. The best estimate is that 208,098,759 buffalo head are distributed in 77 countries in five continents. In this review, we presented the basic aspects of the water buffalo and unraveled the buffalo path followed from the origin of the species to its current global distribution. We reviewed several data sources to provide a better estimate of the world buffalo count and distribution.

Evaluation of Safety and Efficacy of an Inactivated Marker Vaccine against Bovine alphaherpesvirus 1 (BoHV-1) in Water Buffalo (Bubalus bubalis)

“…Water buffaloes originated in Asia, but are currently found on all five continents. To date, in the world, there are about 210 million buffaloes [1] of which approximately 4.13 million are bred in Italy and are located mainly in Central and South Italy (Lazio and Campania Regions), to produce traditional dairy products (Ministry of Health, National Database as of 31 December 2020).…”

Evaluation of Genetic Diversity and Structure of Turkish Water Buffalo Population by Using 20 Microsatellite Markers

“…Water buffaloes have been reported to be of great importance to the lives of farmers and thus to the economies of many countries worldwide [ 1 ]. The number of water buffaloes in the world has increased rapidly over the past few decades, and according to Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) statistics, there are about 208 million buffaloes in the world.…”

“…The number of water buffaloes in the world has increased rapidly over the past few decades, and according to Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) statistics, there are about 208 million buffaloes in the world. Most of the world’s buffaloes live in Asia (96.79%), Africa (1.68%), the Americas (1.23%) and Europe (0.22%) [ 1 , 2 ].…”

Thermoregulatory and Feeding Behavior under Different Management and Heat Stress Conditions in Heifer Water Buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) in the Tropics

“…The water buffalo ( Bubalus bubalis ) is a species that has been recently introduced in Cuba [ 1 , 2 , 3 ] and other tropical countries in the Americas such as Brazil and Colombia [ 4 ], where they are managed in grazing systems with the provision of shade [ 4 , 5 , 6 ].…”

“…Housing systems and pastoral systems with different forest arrangements for buffaloes are known in Latin American countries [ 10 , 11 , 12 ]. For example, buffaloes housed with artificial shade and water sprinklers for cooling in a monocropping natural grass system are observed in the wallowing area to release excess heat [ 5 , 6 ]. In this regard, Simon and Galloso [ 6 ] found a better milk production per hectare and a better daily weight gain of buffalos reared in silvopastoral systems (SPSs) in comparison with conventional systems (CVSs).…”