Wild water buffalo

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"Arnee" redirects here. For the band, see Arnee and the Terminaters. For the similar name, see Arnie.
This article is about the wild species. For the domestic species, see water buffalo.

Wild water buffalo
Temporal range: Middle Pleistocene-Present[1]
in Kaziranga National Park
CITES Appendix III (CITES)[2]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Bovidae
Subfamily: Bovinae
Genus: Bubalus
Species:
B. arnee
Binomial name
Bubalus arnee
(Kerr, 1792)
Subspecies
  • B. a. arnee
  • B. a. fulvus
  • B. a. septentrionalis
  • B. a. migona
Wild water buffalo range
Synonyms

Bubalus bubalis arnee

The wild water buffalo (Bubalus arnee), also called Asian buffalo, Asiatic buffalo and wild buffalo, is a large bovine native to the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. It has been listed as Endangered in the IUCN Red List since 1986, as the remaining population totals less than 4,000. A population decline of at least 50% over the last three generations (24–30 years)[when?] is projected to continue.[2] The global population has been estimated at 3,400 individuals, of which 3,100 (91%) live in India, mostly in Assam.[3] The wild water buffalo is the most likely ancestor of the domestic water buffalo.[4][5]

Taxonomy

Water buffalo sculpture, Lopburi, Thailand, 2300 BCE

Bos arnee was the

scientific name proposed by Robert Kerr in 1792 who described a skull with horns of a buffalo zoological specimen from Bengal in northern India.[6] The specific name arnee is derived from Hindi arnī, which referred to a female wild water buffalo; the term is related to Sanskrit áraṇya ("forest") and áraṇa ("strange, foreign.")[7][8] Bubalus arnee was proposed by Charles Hamilton Smith in 1827 who introduced the generic name Bubalus for bovids with large heads, convex-shaped narrow foreheads, laterally bent flat horns, funnel-shaped ears, small dewlaps and slender tails.[9]
Later authors subordinated the wild water buffalo under either Bos, Bubalus or Buffelus.[10]

In 2003, the

binomen Bubalus arnee for the wild water buffalo as valid for the taxon.[12]

Only a few

DNA sequences are available from wild water buffalo populations.[13] Wild populations are considered to be the progenitor of the modern domestic water buffalo, but the genetic variation within the species is unclear, and also how it is related to the domesticated river and Carabao swamp buffaloes.[14]

Characteristics

Skull of a wild water buffalo in the Bavarian State Collection of Zoology

The wild water buffalo has an ash-gray to black skin. The moderately long, coarse and sparse hair is directed forward from the haunches to the long and narrow head. There is a tuft on the forehead, and the ears are comparatively small. Its head-to-body-length is 240 to 300 cm (94 to 118 in) with a 60 to 100 cm (24 to 39 in) long tail and a shoulder height of 150 to 190 cm (59 to 75 in). Both sexes carry horns that are heavy at the base and widely spreading up to 2 m (79 in) along the outer edges, exceeding in size the horns of any other living

bovid. The tip of the tail is bushy; the hooves are large and splayed.[15]
It is larger and heavier than the domestic water buffalo, and weighs from 600 to 1,200 kg (1,300 to 2,600 lb).[16][17] The average weight of three captive wild water buffaloes was 900 kg (2,000 lb).[18] It is among the heaviest living wild bovid species, and is slightly smaller than gaur.[19]

Distribution and habitat

A herd of wild water buffaloes in Kaziranga National Park, Assam

The wild water buffalo occurs in India, Nepal, Bhutan, Thailand, and Cambodia, with an unconfirmed population in Myanmar. It has been extirpated in Bangladesh, Laos, Vietnam, and Sri Lanka.[2][3] It is associated with wet grasslands, swamps, flood plains and densely vegetated river valleys.[2]

In India, it is largely restricted to in and around

Odisha and Gadchiroli District of Maharashtra. In the early 1990s, there may still have been about 3,300–3,500 wild water buffaloes in Assam and the adjacent states of northeast India.[20] In 1997, the number was assessed at less than 1,500 mature individuals.[2]

Many surviving populations are thought to have interbred with feral or domestic water buffaloes. In the late 1980s, fewer than 100 wild water buffaloes were left in Madhya Pradesh.[21] By 1992, only 50 animals were estimated to have survived there.[20]

Nepal's only population lives in Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve and has grown from 63 individuals in 1976 to 219 individuals in 2009.[22] In 2016, 18 individuals were translocated from Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve to Chitwan National Park.[23]

In and around Bhutan's Royal Manas National Park, a small number of wild water buffaloes occur. This is part of the sub-population that occurs in India's Manas National Park.[3] In Myanmar, a few animals live in Hukaung Valley Wildlife Sanctuary.[2]

In Thailand, wild water buffaloes have been reported to occur in small herds of less than 40 individuals. A population of 25–60 individuals inhabited lowland areas of the Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary between December 1999 and April 2001. This population has not grown significantly in 15 years, and is maybe interbreeding with domestic water buffaloes.[24]

The population in Cambodia is confined to a small area of easternmost

Ratanakiri Provinces. Only a few dozen individuals remain.[25]

The wild water buffaloes in Sri Lanka are thought to be descendants of the introduced domestic water buffalo. It is unlikely that any true wild water buffaloes remain there today.[2]

Wild-living populations found elsewhere in Asia, Australia, Argentina and Bolivia are feral domestic water buffaloes.[15]

Ecology and behavior

Wild water buffaloes are both

gestation period is 10 to 11 months, with an inter-birth interval of one year. They typically give birth to a single offspring, although twins are possible. Age at sexual maturity is 18 months for males, and three years for females. The maximum known lifespan is 25 years in the wild.[15] In the wild in Assam, the herd size varies from three to 30 individuals.[3]

They are probably

browsing on trees and shrubs.[26] They also feed on crops, including rice, sugarcane, and jute, sometimes causing considerable damage.[27]

Tigers and mugger crocodiles prey on adult wild water buffaloes, and Asian black bears have also been known to kill them.[28]

Threats

A population reduction by at least 50% over the last three generations seems likely given the severity of the threats, especially hybridization; this population trend is projected to continue into the future. The most important threats are:[2]

Conservation

Bubalus arnee is included in

CITES Appendix III, and is legally protected in Bhutan, India, Nepal, and Thailand.[2]

In 2017, 15 wild water buffaloes were

reintroduced into Chitwan National Park in Nepal to establish a second viable sub-population in the country.[29]

References

  1. PMID 27667928.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link
    )
  2. ^
    doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2019-1.RLTS.T3129A46364616.en
    . Retrieved 17 January 2024.
  3. ^ a b c d e Choudhury, A. (2010). The vanishing herds: the wild water buffalo. Gibbon Books, Rhino Foundation, CEPF & COA, Taiwan, Guwahati, India.
  4. PMID 9745663
    .
  5. ^ Groves, C. P. (2006). "Domesticated and Commensal Mammals of Austronesia and Their Histories". In Bellwood, P.; Fox, J. J.; Tryon, D. (eds.). The Austranesians. Canberra: Research School of Pacific Studies, The Australian National University. pp. 161–176.
  6. ^ Kerr, R. (1792). "Arnee Bos arnee". The Animal Kingdom or zoological system of the celebrated Sir Charles Linnaeus. Class I. Mammalia. Edinburgh & London: A. Strahan & T. Cadell. p. 336.
  7. ISBN 9781681084176
    – via Google Books.
  8. ^ "Definition of ARNA". www.merriam-webster.com.
  9. ^ Smith, C. H. (1827). "Sub-genus I. Bubalus". In Griffith, E. (ed.). The animal kingdom arranged in conformity with its organization. Vol. 5. Class Mammalia. London: Geo. B. Whittaker. pp. 371–373.
  10. ^ Ellerman, J. R.; Morrison-Scott, T. C. S. (1966). "Genus Bubalus H. Smith, 1827". Checklist of Palaearctic and Indian mammals 1758 to 1946 (Second ed.). London: British Museum of Natural History. pp. 383–384.
  11. ^ International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (2003). "Opinion 2027 (Case 3010). Usage of 17 specific names based on wild species which are pre-dated by or contemporary with those based on domestic animals (Lepidoptera, Osteichthyes, Mammalia)". The Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature. 60 (1): 81–84.
  12. doi:10.1016/j.jas.2003.10.006
    .
  13. S2CID 84855572
    .
  14. doi:10.1016/j.jas.2008.05.010
    .
  15. ^
    ISBN 9780801857898
    .
  16. ^ Aryal, A.; Shrestha, T.K.; Ram, A.; Frey, W.; Groves, C.; Hemmer, H.; Dhakal, M.; Koirala, R.J.; Heinen, J.; Raubenheimer, D. (2011). "Call to conserve the Wild Water Buffalo (Bubalus arnee) in Nepal" (PDF). International Journal of Conservation Science. 2 (4): 261–268.
  17. ISBN 9789401775700
    .
  18. S2CID 13441339
    .
  19. ISBN 9781400834112
    .
  20. ^
    doi:10.1017/s0030605300028325
    .
  21. ^ Divekar, H. K. & Bhusan, B. (1988). Status of wild Asiatic buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) in the Raipur and Bastar Districts of Madhya Pradesh (Report). Technical Report of the Bombay Natural History Society of the Salim Ali Nature Conservation Fund, SANCF Report No. 3/1988.
  22. hdl:2027.42/31022
    .
  23. doi:10.11609/jott.4940.11.15.14942-14954
    .
  24. ^ Chaiyarat, R.; Lauhachinda, V.; Kutintara, U.; Bhumpakphan, N.; Prayurasiddhi, T. (2004). "Population of Wild Water Buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) in Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary, Thailand" (PDF). Natural History Bulletin Siam Society. 52 (2): 151–162. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-28. Retrieved 2011-03-24.
  25. ^ Tordoff, A. W., Timmins, R. J., Maxwell, A., Huy Keavuth, Lic Vuthy and Khou Eang Hourt (eds). (2005). Biological assessment of the Lower Mekong Dry Forests Ecoregion. WWF Greater Mekong Programme. Phnom Penh, Cambodia
  26. ^ Daniel J. C., Grubh B. R. (1966). "The Indian wild buffalo Bubalus bubalis (Linn), in peninsular India: a preliminary survey". Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. 63: 32–53.
  27. ^ Lēkhakun, B., Mcneely, J. A. (1988). Mammals of Thailand. 2nd edition. Saha Karn Bhaet, Bangkok, Thailand
  28. ISBN 1-877743-05-4
  29. S2CID 216528987
    .

External links

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Notes

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