Jafarabadi buffalo

The Jafarabadi buffalo, Jaffrabadi buffalo or Gir buffalo^[1] is a domesticated riverine buffalo that originated in Gujarat, India.^[2] The most recent estimates reveal that there are around 600,000 Jafarabadi buffaloes in the world.^[3][4] It is one of the important buffalo breeds of India and Pakistan.^[5] The Jafarabadi buffalo is also the first buffalo breed exported to Brazil,^[6] and is also one of the four buffalo breeds raised in Brazil as of 2017, the others being Mediterranean, Murrah and swamp buffalo.^[7]

The Indian National Scientific Documentation Centre states that the Jafarabadi buffalo is a hybrid of the African Cape buffalo and the Indian water buffalo, the former originally been brought to British India for slaughtering.^[8] The Centre notes this to be one of the major reasons for the buffalo's poor semen quality.^[8] The hybrid buffaloes were widely present in Jafarabad, and were hence named as Jafarabadi buffalo.^[8] Jafarabadi buffaloes have heavy heads with fairly large, thick, flat horns, which drop on the sides of the neck and go on upwards till the ears.^[9]

This is one of the water buffalo breeds that falls prey to Asiatic lions in the Gir Forest National Park.