📸 PhotoPhoto: Eleleleven from Bielefeld, Deutschland · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons Source
Water Buffalo
Bubalus bubalis (Water Buffalo · スイギュウ)
Not Evaluated (NE) on the IUCN Red List yet.
💡 Everyday Comparisons for Size, Mass & Speed
- 💡 Water buffalo provide more than 5 percent of the world's milk supply, and their milk is used to make butter, ghee, and fine cheeses (Animal Diversity Web).
- 💡 In Southeast Asia they serve as work animals equivalent to tractors for plowing rice paddies, and their hides are made into leather goods (Animal Diversity Web).
- 💡 Its body length of 3 m is about two-thirds (2/3) the length of a passenger car (about 4.5 m) (Comparison).
Reference standards: coach bus ~12 m, mid-size car ~4.9 m, compact car ~1 t, basketball hoop 3.05 m, credit card 8.56 cm.
Site-computed relative index from recorded values; not a formal scientific metric.
📖 1. Overview
The water buffalo is a large bovine living in wet tropical and subtropical regions. Domesticated about 5,000 years ago, it is now widely used as a working animal alongside humans.
🦴 2. Anatomy & Morphology
It has a long, narrow face, small ears, and large, heavy horns with the widest spread of any bovid. Its hooves are widely splayed.
🔍 3. Ecology & Behavior
A ruminant that eats grasses, aquatic plants, and leaves, it enjoys wallowing in mud holes and rivers. In the wild, it forms herds of 10–20 individuals led by an old female.
🇰🇷 4. Connection to Korea
No direct record connecting this species to Korea has been found.
📚 Sources & References
- • IUCN Red List: not evaluated (NE) — cross-checked with the Wikidata conservation-status entry
- • mammaldiversity.org — 1006269
- • wikidata.org — Q42710
- • commons.wikimedia.org — File:Wasserbüffel (25787818312).jpg
- • animaldiversity.org — Bubalus bubalis
- • Silhouette: PhyloPic — Cristopher Silva · CC0 1.0
Recorded dimensions are widely cited representative estimates from public literature and may vary by study or specimen.