water buffalo
Sign in to savespecies of large bovid originating in South Asia
AI overview
Water buffalo are large cattle-like animals that originated in South Asia and are found across the region today. They matter because they are widely used by people for farming, transportation, and as a source of meat and milk.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Species
提示：本条目的主题不是非洲水牛。 水牛（學名：Bubalus bubalis），也叫亚洲水牛（参考水牛的英文条目），是一种大的偶蹄动物，驯养的水牛在亚洲非常普遍。 水牛体格粗壮，被毛稀疏，多为灰黑色；角粗大而扁，并向后方弯曲；皮厚、汗腺极不发达，热时需要浸水散热，所以得名水牛；腿短蹄大，适合耕作；役力、泌乳量和耐粗性都比黄牛高；乳脂率8%左右，乳脂白；肉质较粗。 在亚洲，水牛主要用来作为劳动力；在欧洲的意大利、罗马尼亚和保加利亚它被用做奶牛或食用牛。今天在印度、尼泊尔、不丹和泰国还有野生水牛，澳大利亚北部也有野生的水牛。在东南亚的野生水牛的来历不是很清楚，它们可能是又变野的驯养的水牛的后代，也可能是本地原来就有的野生水牛的后代，或是两者的交配产物。今天野生的水牛已经相当少了。另外，美洲野牛在部份中文翻譯為水牛，但並非水牛。 水牛的分类还有争议，Mac Greger於1941年认为水牛只有一种，下分两个亚种：B. bubalus arnee（河水牛）和B. bubalus carabanesis（沼泽水牛）。其他专家将两者分为相互的独立的种。 水牛奶较牛奶的含脂量高，因此比较容易保存。意大利著名的马苏里拉奶酪及流行於珠江三角洲的特产雙皮奶就是用水牛奶製成的。 不像黄牛，水牛在印度教文化代表邪惡，是祭女神的供品；目前印度是全球最大的牛肉出口國，而出口的就是水牛肉（但印度教徒本身多不食用）。
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Article
The water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis), also called domestic water buffalo, Asian water buffalo, and Asiatic water buffalo, is a large domesticated bovine originating in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia descended from the wild water buffalo. Today, it is also kept in regions including Italy, the Balkans, Australia, the Americas, and parts of Africa. 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 from Assam in the west through Southeast Asia to the Yangtze Valley of China in the east.
The wild water buffalo (Bubalus arnee) is most probably the ancestor of the domestic water buffalo. Results of a phylogenetic study indicate that the river-type water buffalo probably originated in western India and was domesticated about 6,300 years ago, whereas the swamp-type originated independently from Mainland Southeast Asia and was domesticated about 3,000 to 7,000 years ago. Subsequently, the river buffalo dispersed west as far as Egypt, the Balkans, and Italy; while swamp buffalo dispersed to the rest of Southeast Asia and up to the Yangtze Valley.