A water buffalo photographed at Sedgwick County Zoo in Wichita, Kansas
A water buffalo photographed at Sedgwick County Zoo in Wichita, Kansas
Photograph by Joel Sartore, National Geographic Photo Ark

Water Buffalo

The water buffalo, or Asian buffalo, as it is often called, is the largest member of the Bovini tribe, which includes yak, bison, African buffalo, various species of wild cattle, and others.

Standing 5 to 6.2 feet tall at the shoulder, wild water buffalo are formidable mammals with sparse gray-black coats. Males carry enormous backward-curving, crescent-shaped horns stretching close to 5 feet long with deep ridges on their surface. Females are smaller in size and weight, but they also have horns, although they are proportionately smaller.

Water buffalo spend much of their day submerged in the muddy waters of Asia’s tropical and subtropical forests. Their wide-splayed hoofed feet prevent them from sinking too deeply in the mud and allow them to move

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