Buffaloes "lie down" and refuse to plow the land? In fact, cows have two faces in private...

An Asian buffalo was plowing a field with its owner's daughter in Henan Province when the buffalo refused to do so and simply lay down on the spot.

In late September, an Asian buffalo in Jiangxi fell into deep thought when faced with a child playing the flute. It seems that playing the lute to a cow is useless, so you should play the flute to the cow.

Niu Niu: I didn’t understand the meaning of the song when I first listened to it, but I became the bull in the song when I listened to it again

In fact, the buffaloes that are common in our paddy fields

There are also many unknown secrets

Wild Asian water buffalo Photo credit: francisjtaylor.co.uk

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The true form of the plowing buffalo

The common water buffalo is formally known as the Asian water buffalo ( Bubalus bubalis ) , or more precisely, the Asian domestic water buffalo. Their ancestors are probably the Asian wild water buffalo ( Bubalus arnee ) that is now found in the wild in countries such as India and Thailand.

Compared with their domesticated relatives, Asian wild buffaloes have long, bow-like horns and can weigh up to 600-1200 kilograms. Some of their domesticated relatives are smaller than their wild counterparts, with some weighing four or five hundred kilograms (such as the Wenzhou buffalo breed), and some weighing nearly one ton or even more than one and a half tons, such as the Haizi buffalo and Shanghai buffalo breeds in northern Jiangsu. Thailand also has domesticated buffaloes that are very strong and huge.

Domesticated small Asian water buffalo photographed by the author in Dali, Yunnan

Large Asian domestic buffalo in a bullfighting arena. Image source: k.sina.com.cn

Note: During their research, researchers from Guangxi University discovered large Asian buffaloes weighing 1.6 tons or even 1.9 tons, which were domesticated Haizi buffaloes. (Data from Liu Qingyou's research)

In tropical and subtropical regions of Asia, a group of people domesticated wild buffalo. Of course, domesticated buffalo are also raised in southern Europe in addition to warm areas of Asia.

Buffalo milk is the raw material for Shunde Shuangpi milk and Italian cheese . Their strong strength also makes them a good worker in farming. In southern Europe, Mediterranean buffaloes provide buffalo milk to make mozzarella cheese. Compared with common yellow cow milk, their milk has a relatively higher fat content and higher protein. It feels like ice cream when you drink it (the author has drunk it).

Buffalo cheese from southern Europe. Source: theshowp.com

Buffaloes work hard in the fields, and in the bullfighting arena, they become gladiators in folklore . They also stand out in the bullfighting competition known as the "Guizhou Super Bowl". In particular, the buffalo king "Optimus Prime" who died in the summer of 2019, this buffalo weighing about one ton had won many battles in the arena, and finally died at the age of about 90 years old.

On Brazil's Marajo Island, Asian water buffaloes are used as mounts by local police, carrying them to chase criminals during the rainy season when water flows are rampant.

Optimus Prime before his death. Image source: dashangu.com

Buffalo Mounted Police Photo source: knowinsiders.com

Note: There are still some unsolved mysteries about where the domesticated Asian water buffalo came from. The academic community has found that they can be divided into two subspecies, river buffalo (Bbbubalis) and swamp buffalo (Bbcarabanesis), with different morphological characteristics and inconsistent chromosome numbers. The two diverged more than a million years ago and became two branches. Most of the domesticated buffalo in China are swamp buffalo, but the Binlangjiang buffalo in Yunnan Province are river buffalo. River buffalo are also raised in Pakistan, India, and southern Europe.

Asian domestic buffalo breeds found in different parts of India and other parts of the world

Image source: breedslist.com

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He is obedient at home but crazy in the wild

After being domesticated by humans, Asian buffaloes have also left many marks in human civilization.

In the eyes of people who have an impression of the paddy fields in southern China, the swamp buffaloes accompanying the shepherds are often a symbol of strength and gentleness. Why are swamp buffaloes so gentle? The reason behind this is actually that the oxytocin receptor gene OXTR has changed compared to other cattle, making swamp buffaloes more docile than other cattle.

At the same time, they who were tilling the paddy fields were able to eat rice porridge thanks to their strong starch digestion genes, thus achieving the goal of "as long as all living beings are fed, they will lie down in the setting sun even if they are sick or weak."

In comparison, river buffaloes are not so docile, but there are still many river buffaloes that are capable of strength and milk production. Just look at the Beef & Cheese milk sold on the market.

Asian buffalo and people in Vietnam

Buffalo racing in Thailand (Source: news.cgtn.com)

Asian buffaloes look like strong and tall domestic animals when they are around people. So what would the scene be like if Asian buffaloes were in the wild, or if domesticated Asian buffaloes were released into the wild?

In protected areas in India and other places, the wild Asian buffalo, one of the four great beasts, has few natural enemies, and even the tiger king has to work hard to kill them. (The others are the Asian elephant, the Indian rhinoceros, and the Indian bison).

One of the few land beasts that can kill tons of herbivores alone. Photographed in Beijing Zoo

Domesticated Asian buffaloes have been released into the wild in South America, Australia, Indonesia and other places, where they have formed feral populations. The dingo ( Canis lupus dingo ), which is good at group fighting, and the jaguar ( Panthera onca ), which has strong teeth and iron jaws, find it difficult to fight against adult buffaloes.

Asian buffaloes even use a circle to protect their offspring (the cows surround and the bulls attack). Faced with the buffalo's circle tactics, the jaguar dare not rush into it. The only predators that can kill them with their strength are tigers and the largest reptile of the time, the saltwater crocodile ( Crocodylus porosus ). The Komodo dragon, which has venom but is not big enough, also needs to continue to attack and stalk when attacking Asian buffaloes.

Jaguar photographed at Shijiazhuang Zoo

Saltwater crocodiles kill wild Asian domestic buffalo in Australia. Image source: Facebook

In Australia, where there is a lack of competitors, the Asian buffalo has become an alien species that has a negative impact on the local area, along with the local feral horses, rabbits, etc.

In addition to competing with native species for food, the activities of Asian buffaloes also damage local water bodies, making it difficult for native species to survive. People have even started hunting Asian buffaloes in Australia, as well as in Argentina and other places.

However, domesticated Asian buffaloes can also do good things outside. In some parts of Europe, Asian buffaloes are released into the wild to regulate the growth of local vegetation and promote rewilding activities in Europe.

When these buffalo settle on the edge of the swamp, they create ponds that cradle native amphibians, aquatic insects, and small fish. Their hair (which carries plant seeds on their bodies) and feces also serve as a way station for native plants.

Buffalo hunting in Argentina (Photo source: outdoors-international.com)

Asian water buffalo released into the European river

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Relatives of the Asian water buffalo

The buffalo family includes not only the domesticated and wild Asian water buffalo, but also their island relatives, the Mindoro buffalo ( Bubalus mindorensis ) of the Philippines, and the lowland dwarf buffalo ( Bubalus depressicornis ) and mountain dwarf buffalo ( Bubalus quarlesi ) on Sulawesi Island in Indonesia.

These little guys all live on islands in Southeast Asia. They are smaller than their mainland cousins. How small are they? They are about the size of a pony or a donkey, weighing between 100 and 300 kilograms.

Lowland Japanese buffalo. Image source: flickriver.com

In addition, the African buffalo ( Syncerus caffer ), which is often seen in documentaries being hunted by lions but can also fight back against lions, is closely related to the Asian buffalo but belongs to a different genus.

African buffaloes are generally between 450-750 kilograms, and are smaller than Asian buffaloes in general, but they are fierce and have never been domesticated. Their typical features are their big back hair and upward-curved horns.

The specimen of African buffalo was taken by the author at Tianjin Natural History Museum. Note its horns.

Does the Asian water buffalo have other relatives? The answer is yes, but they are extinct. Proamphibos, which lived in Pakistan more than two million years ago, may be the ancestor of today's Asian water buffalo.

More than a million years ago in the Early Pleistocene, Zhou's buffalo ( Bubalus chowi ) appeared in Guangxi as one of the earliest buffalo fossils. In the subsequent Ice Age, Teilhardi's buffalo ( Bubalus teilhardi ) accompanied ancient humans such as Peking Man in Zhoukoudian and other places, Young's buffalo ( Bubalus youngi ) occupied North China, Huanghuai and other places, and Wang's buffalo was even dispatched in Inner Mongolia and the three northeastern provinces of China. Yes, some buffaloes once went north to the bitter cold. In southern Europe, there lived the Mur buffalo ( Bubalus murrensis ).

Young's buffalo skull fossil

Wang's buffalo fossils were photographed at Tianjin Natural History Museum

After the Ice Age, the sacred water buffalo ( Bubalus mephistopheles ), which was made into a national treasure, survived until the Shang and Zhou dynasties in China. Some people believe that the word "Si" refers to the sacred water buffalo. There are still many mysteries between these extinct relatives and today's Asian water buffalo, and many of their fossils are incomplete.

Image of the sacred buffalo-shaped artifact from historylibrary.net

References:

Asian water buffalo: domestication, history and genetics Y. Zhang, L. Colli, JSF Barker First published: 22 January 2020https://doi.org/10.1111/age.12911

Hoogesteijn R, Hoogesteijn A. Conflicts between cattle ranching and large predators in Venezuela: could use of water buffalo facilitate felid conservation?[J]. Oryx, 2008, 42(1): 132-138.

Dutta, P., Talenti, A., Young, R. et al. Whole genome analysis of water buffalo and global cattle breeds highlights convergent signatures of domestication. Nat Commun 11, 4739 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-18550-1

The Early Pleistocene water buffalo associated with Gigantopithecus from Chongzuo in southern China, Wei Dong a, Jin-yi Liu a, Li-min Zhang ab, Qin-qi Xu ahttps://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1040618213009889#:~:text=Bubalus%20youngi%20guzhensis,%20Bubal us%20youngi%20youngi%20and%20Bubalus#:~:text=Bubalus%20youngi%20guzhensis,%20Bubalus%20youngi%20youngi%20and%20Bubalus

Tong Haowen, Chen Xi, Wang Xiaomin. On the skull of Bubalus youngi of Late Pleistocene from the plain area of ​​Beijing, China[J]. Quaternary Sciences, 2015, 35(3): 561-572. doi: 10.11928/j.issn.1001-7410.2015.03.08

The return of the kinga (saltwater crocodile): Population 'bust then boom' shapes shifting baselines in Indigenous biocultural knowledge in northern Australia Author links open overlay panel Emma Ligtermoet ab, Julie Narndal Gumurdul c, Connie Nayinggul d, Richard Baker a

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2022.109746

DSEWPaC (2010) Feral animals on offshore islandsdatabaseathttp://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/invasive/ferals/islands/index.html

agriculture.gov.au

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