Asian Wild Water-Buffalo (Bubalus arnee)

[Jimmy]

Interesting news, so there should be enough reason to think why those buffaloes from Madhya Pradesh are hardground variety, it is pretty clear that these areas are not as swampy as those from Assam, even Barasingha I remember are hard ground variety in Kanha unlike those from Terai or Assam which are more broad footed and swamp oriented. Likewise there could possibly be morphological differences between swamp oriented Assamese buffaloes and hard ground central Indian ones in hooves for example, it will be good if they can make it but doesn't look like ideal habitat to me, water buffalo as far as I know are almost rhino like in their preference for georaphy, habitat and feeding. Kanha will present some challenges to The translocted Assamese buffaloes in this respect but after some generations I think they can get habituated to living in dry hard ground since water buffalo seem to adjust well for examples are srilankan types water buffaloes that have thrived in arid environment, also feral buffaloes northern Australia and in Komodo island, so there is hope. But I feel since it is central India they should have prioritized central Indian hard ground wild water buffaloes for translocation, this should be taken as a long run investment for the sub-species survival since once done they cannot look back, hybridizing two types of sub-species isn't an option and they should see the wild water buffaloes as not just another prey species and as a sensation for the park, at the moment it feels like that Reply