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BUFFALO
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BUFFALO , a name properly pertaining to an aberrant See also:species of See also:cattle which has been kept in a See also:state of domestication in See also:India and See also:Egypt from See also:time immemorial, and had been introduced from the latter See also:country into See also:southern See also:Europe. It is now taken, however, to include not only this species, whose native See also:home is India, but all more or less nearly related animals.' Buffaloes are heavily built oxen, with sparsely haired skin, large ears, See also:long, tufted tails, broad muzzles and massive angulated horns. In having only 13 pairs of ribs they resemble the typical oxen. See also:African buffaloes all have the See also:hair of the back directed backwards.
In the Cape buffalo, See also:Bos (Bubalus) caffer, the horns do not attain an excessive length, but in old bulls are so See also:expanded and thickened at the See also:base as to See also:form a See also:helmet-like See also:mass protecting the whole forehead. Several more or less nearly allied See also:local races have been named; and in Eastern See also:Africa the buffaloes (B. caller aequinoclialis) have smaller horns, which do not meet in the See also:middle See also:line. From this See also:animal, which is See also: Like its See also:Indian ally it is fond of water, which it visits at See also:regular intervals during the twenty-four See also:hours; it also plasters itself with mud, which, when hardened by the See also:sun, protects it from the bite of the gadflies which in spite of its thick hide seem to cause it considerable annoyance. It is relieved of a portion of the parasitic See also:ticks, so See also:common on the hides of thick-skinned animals, by means of the red-beaked See also:rhinoceros birds, Buphaga erythrorhynca, a dozen or more of which may be seen partly perched on its horns and partly moving about on its back, and picking up the ticks on which they feed. The See also:hunter is often guided by these birds in his See also:search for the buffalo, but oftener still they give timely warning to their See also:host of the dangerous proximity of the hunter, and have thus earned the See also:title of " the buffalo's See also:guardian birds." In a See also:wild state the typical Indian buffalo, Bos (Bubalus) bubalis, seems to be restricted to India and See also:Ceylon, although some of the buffaloes found in the See also:Malay See also:Peninsula and Islands probably represent local races. The species has been introduced into See also:Asia See also:Minor, Egypt, See also:Italy and elsewhere. The large size and wide separation of the horns, as well as the less thickly fringed ears, and the more elongated and narrow See also:head, form marked points of distinction between the See also:Asiatic and South African species. Moreover, all Asiatic buffaloes are distinguished from the African forms by having the hair on the fore-See also:part of the back directed forwards; and these go far to support the views of those who would make them the types of a distinct subgenus, 1 In See also:America, it is See also:worth noting, the See also:term '" buffalo " is almost universally taken, at all events in popular parlance, to designate the See also:American bison, for which see Bisox. or genus, Buffelus. In See also:Assam there formerly existed a local See also:race, B. bubalis macrocercus, characterized by the horns, which are of immense size, being directed mainly outwards, instead of curving upwards in a circular form. Another Assam race (B. bubalis fulvus) is characterized by the tawny, in See also:place of black, See also:colour of its hair and hide. The haunts of the Indian buffalo are the grass-jungles near swamps, in which the grass exceeds 20 ft. in height. Here the buffaloes—like the Indian rhinoceros—form covered pathways, in which they are completely concealed. The herds frequently include fifty or more individuals. These animals are fond of passing the See also:day in marshes, where they love to wallow in the mud; they are by no means shy, and do much harm to the crops. The rutting-See also:season occurs in autumn, when several See also:females follow a single male, forming for the time a small See also:herd. The See also:period of gestation lasts for ten months, and the See also:female produces one or two calves at a See also:birth. The See also:bull is capable, it is said, of overthrowing an See also:elephant, and generally more than a match even for the See also:tiger, which usually declines the combat when not impelled by See also:hunger. The Indian See also:driver of a herd of tame buffaloes does not shrink from entering a tiger-frequented See also:jungle, his cattle, with their massive horns, making See also:short See also:work of any tiger that may come in their way. Buffalo fights and fights between buffaloes and tigers were recognized Indian See also:sports in the old days. Domesticated buffaloes differ from their wild brethren merely by their inferior size and smaller horns; some of the latter being of the circular and others of the straight type. The See also:milk is See also:good and nourishing, but of a See also:ropy consistency and a See also:peculiar flavour. The tamarao, or Philippine buffalo, Bos (Bubalus) mindorensis, is a smaller animal, in many respects intermediate between the Indian buffalo and the dwarf See also:anoa, or See also:Celebes buffalo (B. depressicornis). (R. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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