Asian Wild Buffalo

The Asian wild buffalo is a massive wild cattle species with dark sparse hair and exceptionally broad, crescent-shaped horns. It is the wild ancestor of domestic water buffalo, but feral animals and hybridization make identification and population assessment difficult (IUCN species assessment; Mammal Diversity Database).

Remnant populations occupy floodplain grassland, marshes and open woodland in South and Southeast Asia. Herds graze grasses and aquatic vegetation and depend on water and wallowing sites. Habitat conversion, hunting, disease and genetic mixing with domestic buffalo are major threats (IUCN species assessment). It is Nationally Critically Endangered (Thailand Red Data 2025).