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Water buffalo facts for kids

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Domestic Asian Water buffalo
Wasserbüffel (25787818312).jpg
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Class:
Mammalia
Order:
Artiodactyla
Family:
Bovidae
Subfamily:
Bovinae
Tribe:
Bovini
Genus:
Bubalus
Species:
B. bubalis
Binomial name
Bubalus bubalis

Water buffaloes are a kind of bovine. There are Wild Asian Water Buffaloes and domestic buffaloes or domestic Asian water buffalo. They are bred in Asia, South America and in Southern Europe. They were bred from the Wild Asian Water Buffalo, which is now an endangered species.

Today, these buffaloes are used for their milk, which has more fat than that of cows. The milk is processed to make Mozzarella, and curd. Feral populations are sometimes used to manage uncontrolled growth of vegetation around wetlands. They will simply graze it off. This keeps such bodies of water usable by birds and other wildlife.

Females normally give birth to calves every other year. Young bulls usually stay with herds of mothers, which have about 30 buffalo, for three years after birth. They then go on to form small all-male herds.

Water buffalo have been kept by humans for more than 5,000 years. They have helped humans with their meat, horns, hides, milk, butterfat, and power, plowing and transporting people and crops.

Wild water buffalo are endangered. They live only in a small number of protected areas in countries like India, Nepal, Bhutan, and Thailand.

Images for kids

  • Water buffalo skull (Bubalus bubalis)

    A water buffalo skull

  • Water buffalo

    Water buffaloes in the water

  • Water buffalo calf, India

    A water buffalo calf in India

  • Murrah buffalo

    Murrah buffaloes at the Philippine Carabao Center

  • Philippine Carabao

    A carabao buffalo in the Philippines

  • Water buffaloes of Cambodia

    A water buffalo in Cambodia

  • Kerkini lake - Kerkini village

    Water buffaloes in Lake Kerkini

  • WildWaterBuffalo(Bubalus bubalis arnee)

    A feral water buffalo in Australia

  • Búfalo Murrah

    A Murrah buffalo on a Brazilian farm

  • Kerbau Jawa

    Water buffaloes plowing rice fields in Java, Indonesia

  • Pccmilkjf

    Dairy products of water buffalo milk

  • Bihu dancer with a horn

    A bihu dancer blowing a hornpipe

  • Pcc22jf

    The super Carabao buffaloes at the milking and breeding station

  • Impression of a cylinder seal of The Divine Sharkalisharri Prince of Akkad Ibni-Sharrum the Scribe his servant

    Impression of a cylinder seal of the Akkadian Empire, with the label: "The Divine Sharkalisharri Prince of Akkad, Ibni-Sharrum the Scribe his servant". The long-horned water buffalo is thought to have come from the Indus Valley, and testifies to exchanges with Meluhha, the Indus Valley civilization. C. 2217–-2193 BC. Louvre Museum.

  • Water Buffalo by Hokusai

    Water Buffalo (Suigyū) painted by Katsushika Hokusai, c. 1875

  • Filipino and American spectators at a Carabao fight in Jolo LOC 3909061743

    Filipinos and American soldiers observed a water buffalo fight in 1906.

  • Carabao Cart

    A carabao cart in the Philippines in 1899

  • Kambala, he-buffalo race at Vandar village, Udupi Dist., Kar. India

    A water buffalo race at Vandar village, Udupi district, India

  • Bisbuffalorace

    Water buffalo racing at Babulang 2006

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Búfalo de agua para niños

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Water buffalo Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.