Water buffalos, Sumatra, Indonesia

You can meet water buffalos all over Asia and they are different... Two extant types are recognized - 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.
This are Swamp buffalos and in contrast to river buffalos (which prefer deep water) they prefer to wallow in mudholes which they make with their horns. During wallowing, they acquire a thick coating of mud.
At least 130 million water buffaloes exist and more than 95.8% of the world population of water buffaloes are kept in Asia. More people depend on them than on any other domestic animal. They are especially suitable for tilling rice fields, and their milk is richer in fat and protein than that of dairy cattle. Water buffalo milk is processed into a large variety of dairy products, including: cream, butter, ghee, heat-concentrated milk products, fermented milk products, hard cheeses and soft cheeses.
Water buffaloes thrive on many aquatic plants. During floods, they will graze submerged, raising their heads above the water and carrying quantities of edible plants.
Here you can see a curious one...Read more