The water buffalo, 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 Italy, the Balkans, Australia, North America, South America and some African countries.
Two extant types of water buffalo are recognized, based on morphological and behavioural criteria: the river buffalo of the Indian subcontinent and further west to the Balkans, Egypt and Italy and the swamp buffalo, found from Assam in the west through Southeast Asia to the Yangtze Valley of China in the east.
Water buffalo
A water buffalo skull
An albino swamp buffalo in Chiang Mai province, Thailand
Water buffaloes in the water
The Bovidae comprise the biological family of cloven-hoofed, ruminant mammals that includes cattle, yaks, bison, buffalo, antelopes, sheep and goats. A member of this family is called a bovid. With 143 extant species and 300 known extinct species, the family Bovidae consists of 11 major subfamilies and thirteen major tribes. The family evolved 20 million years ago, in the early Miocene.
Bovidae
Skull of Eotragus sansaniensis, a species of the ancient bovid genus Eotragus
Bovids have unbranched horns.
The gemsbok has conspicuous markings on its face, which conceal the eye, and on its legs. These may have a role in communication.