Box 16.1: Genetics of wild water buffalo

Abstract

The wild water buffalo (Asian buffalo, wild Asian buffalo) 'Bubalus arnee' (Kerr 1792) - is one of a number of 'Bubalus' species which were widely distributed in Europe and southern Asia in the Pleistocene, but later was restricted to the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia (Mason 1974). Two species, 'B. teilhardi' and 'B.youngi', which were morphologically identified from bone remains in the Wei River valley (Shaanxi Province, China) apparently became extinct during the Pleistocene (Yang et al. 2008). A third species in China, 'B. mephistopheles' (Hopwood, 1925) also found in the Wei River valley and the lower Yangzi River region, survived to the Neolithic and Bronze Age in the Holocene (Liu et al. 2004; Yang et al. 2008). Extant 'Bubalus' species include 'B. mindorensis' (Heude 1888) or tamaraw from Mindoro Island, the Philippines, which is critically endangered (Hedges et al. 2008a), and two species of anoa from Sulawesi, Indonesia: 'B. depressicornis' (C. H. Smith 1827) or lowland anoa and 'B. quarlesi' (Ouwens 1910) or mountain anoa. There is still debate about whether these two are distinct species (Burton et al. 2005), but both are endangered (Semiadi et al. 2008a, 2008b). In historical times, the wild Asian buffalo ranged across South and Southeast Asia from Mesopotamia to Indo-China (Epstein 1971; Mason 1974; Cockrill 1984). It is currently listed as Endangered (Hedges et al. 2008b), with a world population of fewer than 4000, potentially fewer than 200, and it is even possible that no purebred wild animals exist.