Editing Water buffalo (section)

==Domestication and breeding==

[[File:Murrah buffalo.JPG|thumb|[[Murrah buffalo]] herd at the Philippine Carabao Center]]

[[File:Bao Yen - Kim Son Rural Commune - P1380626.JPG|thumb|Trâu Nội buffaloes tied near a barn in Lào Cai, Vietnam]]

The most probable ancestor of domesticated water buffalo is the wild water buffalo (''[[Bubalus arnee]]''), which is native to the [[Indian subcontinent]] and tropical Southeast Asia.<ref name=Groves2006>{{cite book |author=Groves, C. P. |chapter=Domesticated and Commensal Mammals of Austronesia and Their Histories |url=https://press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/p69411/mobile/ch08.html|doi=10.22459/A.09.2006.08|pages=161–176 |year=2006 |title=The Austronesians |location=Canberra |publisher=Research School of Pacific Studies, The Australian National University |doi-broken-date=15 May 2025 |isbn=9780731521326 |editor=Bellwood, P. |editor2=Fox, J. J. |editor3=Tryon, D. |doi-access=free }}</ref> Two types of domesticated water buffalo are recognized, based on [[Morphology (biology)|morphological]] and behavioural criteria – the '''river buffalo''' (of the western Indian subcontinent and west to the Levant, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean) and the '''swamp buffalo''' (found from [[Assam]] and [[East India]] in the west, east to the [[Yangtze]] Valley of China, and south through [[Indochina]] and Southeast Asia).<ref name=Cockrill1974 />

River- and swamp-type water buffalo are believed to have been [[Domestication|domesticated]] independently. Results of a [[phylogenetic]] study indicate that the river-type water buffalo probably originated in western India and was probable domesticated about 6,300 years ago; the swamp-type originated independently from [[Mainland Southeast Asia]], being domesticated between 3-7,000 years ago.<ref name=Zhang2020/> The river buffalo dispersed west as far as [[Egypt]], southern Europe, the [[Levant]], and the Mediterranean regions; swamp buffalo dispersed in the opposite direction, to the rest of Southeast Asia, and as far as the Yangtze Valley in China.<ref name=Zhang2020/><ref name="Liu2004"/><ref name="yang"/>

Swamp-type water buffalo entered [[Island Southeast Asia]] from at least 2,500 years ago through the northern [[Philippines]], where butchered remains of domesticated water buffalo have been recovered from the [[Neolithic]] Nagsabaran site (part of the [[Lal-lo and Gattaran Shell Middens]], {{Circa|2200 BCE}} to 400 CE). These became the ancestors of the distinctly swamp-type [[carabao]] buffalo breed of the Philippines which, in turn, spread to [[Guam]], [[Indonesia]], and [[Malaysia]], among other smaller islands.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Amano |first1=Noel |last2=Piper |first2=Philip J. |last3=Hung |first3=Hsiao-chun |last4=Bellwood |first4=Peter |title=Introduced Domestic Animals in the Neolithic and Metal Age of the Philippines: Evidence From Nagsabaran, Northern Luzon |journal=The Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology |date=2013 |volume=8 |issue=3 |pages=317–335 |doi=10.1080/15564894.2013.781084|s2cid=131368496 |hdl=1885/22954 |hdl-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Mijares |first1=Armand Salvador B. |title=The early Austronesian migration to Luzon: perspectives from the Peñablanca Cave Sites |journal=Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association Bulletin |date=2006 |volume=26 |pages=72&ndash;78 |citeseerx=10.1.1.403.7868 }}</ref>

The present-day river buffalo is the result of complex domestication processes involving more than one maternal lineage and a significant maternal [[gene flow]] from wild populations after the initial domestication events.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Kumar, S. |author2=Nagarajan, M. |author3=Sandhu, J. S. |author4=Kumar, N. |author5=Behl, V. |year=2007 |title=Phylogeography and domestication of Indian river buffalo |journal=BMC Evolutionary Biology |volume=7 |issue=1 |page=186 |doi=10.1186/1471-2148-7-186 |pmid=17915036 |pmc=2140268 |bibcode=2007BMCEE...7..186K |doi-access=free }}</ref> Twenty-two [[breed]]s of the river buffalo are known, including the [[Murrah buffalo|Murrah]], [[NiliRavi]], [[Surti buffalo|Surti]], [[Carabao]], Anatolian, [[Italian Mediterranean buffalo|Mediterranean]], and Egyptian buffaloes.<ref name=Moioli2005>Moioli, B. and A. Borghese (2005). ''Buffalo Breeds and Management Systems''. Pages 51–76 in Borghese, A. (ed.) [http://www.cienciaanimal.ufpa.br/CA_selecao/M/2010/biblio/Prod/complem/Borghese_2005.pdf ''Buffalo Production and Research''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131020232147/http://www.cienciaanimal.ufpa.br/CA_selecao/M/2010/biblio/Prod/complem/Borghese_2005.pdf |date=20 October 2013 }}. REU Technical Series 67. Inter-regional Cooperative Research Network on Buffalo, FAO Regional Office for Europe, Rome.</ref> China has a huge variety of water buffalo [[genetic resources]], with 16 local swamp buffalo breeds in various regions.<ref name=Borghese2005/>

===Genetic studies===

[[Mitochondrial DNA]] analyses indicate that the two types were domesticated independently.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Kumar, S. |author2=Nagarajan, M. |author3=Sandhu, J. S. |author4=Kumar, N. |author5=Behl, V. |author6=Nishanth, G. |year=2007 |url=http://www.aseanbiotechnology.info/Abstract/21025230.pdf |title=Mitochondrial DNA analyses of Indian water buffalo support a distinct genetic origin of river and swamp buffalo |journal=Animal Genetics |volume=38 |issue=3 |pages=227–232 |doi=10.1111/j.1365-2052.2007.01602.x |pmid=17459014 |access-date=19 February 2013 |archive-date=4 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304204755/http://www.aseanbiotechnology.info/Abstract/21025230.pdf |url-status=usurped }}</ref> [[Sequencing]] of [[cytochrome b]] (''CytB'') [[gene]]s of ''Bubalus'' [[species]] implies that the water buffalo originated from at least two populations, and that the river-type and the swamp-type have differentiated at the full species level. The [[genetic distance]] between the two types is so large that a divergence time of about 1.7 million years has been suggested. The swamp-type was noticed to have the closest relationship with the [[tamaraw]] of the northern Philippines.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Phylogenetic relationship among all living species of the genus ''Bubalus'' based on DNA sequences of the cytochrome ''b'' gene|year=1996 |doi=10.1007/BF00570125 |pmid=9126673 |last1=Tanaka |first1=Kazuaki |last2=Solis |first2=Chester D. |last3=Masangkay |first3=Joseph S. |last4=Maeda |first4=Kei-Ichiro |last5=Kawamoto |first5=Yoshi |last6=Namikawa |first6=Takao |journal=Biochemical Genetics |volume=34 |issue=11–12 |pages=443–452 |s2cid=22075565}}</ref>

A 2008 DNA analysis of [[Neolithic]] water buffalo remains in northern China (previously used as evidence of a Chinese domestication origin) found that the remains were of the [[extinct]] ''[[Bubalus mephistopheles]]'' and are not genetically related to modern domesticated water buffaloes. Another study in 2004 also concluded that the remains were from wild specimens. Both indicate that water buffaloes were first domesticated outside of China.<ref name="Liu2004">{{cite journal |last1=Liu |first1=Li |last2=Chen |first2=Xingcan |last3=Jiang Leping |title=A study of Neolithic water buffalo remains from Zhejiang, China |journal=Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association Bulletin |date=2004 |volume=24 |issue=Taipei Papers 2 |pages=113–120}}</ref><ref name="yang">{{cite journal |last1=Yang |first1=Dongya Y. |last2=Liu |first2=Li |last3=Chen |first3=Xingcan |last4=Speller |first4=Camilla F. |title=Wild or domesticated: DNA analysis of ancient water buffalo remains from north China |journal=Journal of Archaeological Science |date=October 2008 |volume=35 |issue=10 |pages=2778–2785 |doi=10.1016/j.jas.2008.05.010|bibcode=2008JArSc..35.2778Y }}</ref> Analyses of [[mitochondrial DNA]] and [[single-nucleotide polymorphism]] indicate that swamp and river buffaloes were [[Crossbreed|crossbred]] in China.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Pérez-Pardal, L. |author2=Chen, S. |author3=Costa, V. |author4=Liu, X. |author5=Carvalheira, J. |author6=Beja-Pereira, A. |name-list-style=amp |year=2018 |title=Genomic differentiation between swamp and river buffalo using a cattle high-density single nucleotide polymorphisms panel|journal=Animal |volume=12 |issue=3 |pages=464–471 |doi=10.1017/S1751731117001719 |pmid=28735584|s2cid=206340224|doi-access=free|bibcode=2018Anim...12..464P }}</ref>

A 2020 analysis of the genomes of 91 swamp and 30 river buffaloes showed that they separated already before domestication about {{Ma|0.23}}.<ref name=Sun2020>{{cite journal |author1=Sun, T. |name-list-style=amp |author2=Shen, J. |author3=Achilli, A. |author4=Chen, N. |author5=Chen, Q. |author6=Dang, R. |author7=Zheng Z |author8=Zhang, H. |author10=Zhang, X. |author11=Wang, S. |author12=Zhang, T. |author13=Lu, H. |author14=Ma, Y. |author15=Jia, Y. |author16=Capodiferro, M.R. |author17=Huang, Y. |author18=Lan, X. |author19=Chen, H. |author20=Jiang, Y. |author9=Lei, C. |year=2020 |title=Genomic analyses reveal distinct genetic architectures and selective pressures in buffaloes |journal=GigaScience |volume=9 |issue=2 |page=giz166 |doi=10.1093/gigascience/giz166|pmid=32083286 |pmc=7033652 |doi-access=free}}</ref> A 2021 analysis of water buffalo and [[lowland anoa]] genomes unexpectedly found the anoa branching somewhere between swamp and river buffalos.<ref name=Curaudeau2021/> A 2023 Filipino study using the ''CytB'' gene instead found the [[tamaraw]] branching between the two.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Cailipan |first1=Therese Patricka |last2=Paraguas |first2=Alexander |last3=Cuanang |first3=Aivhie Jhoy |last4=Soliven |first4=Nelvie Fatima Jane |last5=Roño |first5=John Gregor |last6=Fontanilla |first6=Francis |last7=Servo |first7=Emerson |last8=Cao |first8=Ernelea |last9=Fontanilla |first9=Ian Kendrich |last10=Villamor |first10=Lilian |display-authors=5 |title=Molecular Data and Karyotype Revealed Two Distinct Species of Domesticated Water Buffaloes in the Philippines |journal=Philippine Journal of Science |date=5 September 2023 |volume=152 |issue=5 |doi=10.56899/152.05.27|s2cid=263317713 }}</ref>

=== Populations ===

{{main|Water buffalo populations}}

By 2011, the global water buffalo population was about 172 million.<ref name=Borghese2011>Borghese, A. (2011). [http://www.mjas.ukim.edu.mk/files/MJAS-01-02-_2011_-048-Borghese.pdf "Situation and Perspectives of Buffalo in the World, Europe and Macedonia"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304034709/http://www.mjas.ukim.edu.mk/files/MJAS-01-02-_2011_-048-Borghese.pdf |date=4 March 2016 }}. ''Macedonian Journal of Animal Science'' 1 (#2): 281–296.</ref> The estimated global population of water buffalo is 208,098,759 head distributed in 77 countries in five continents.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last1=Minervino|first1=A.H.H. |last2=Zava |first2=M. |last3=Vecchio|first3=D. |last4=Borghese|first4=A. |date=2020 |title=''Bubalus bubalis'': A Short Story |journal=Frontiers in Veterinary Science |volume=7 |page=570413 |doi=10.3389/fvets.2020.570413 |pmid=33335917 |pmc=7736047 |doi-access=free}}</ref>