Jafarabadi buffalo, Jaffrabadi buffalo or Gir buffalo [1] is a domesticated riverine buffalo that originated in Gujarat, India. [2] It is estimated that there are about 25,000 Jafarabadi buffaloes in the world. [3] It is one of the important buffalo breeds of India and Pakistan. [4] The Jafarabadi buffalo is also the first buffalo breed exported to Brazil, [5] and is also one of the four buffalo breeds raised in Brazil as of 2017, the others being Mediterranean, Murrah and swamp buffalo. [6]
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. [7] The Centre notes this to be one of the major reasons for the buffalo's poor semen quality. [7] The hybrid buffalos were widely present in Jafarabad, and were hence named as Jafarabadi buffalo. [7] 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. [8]
This is one of the Water buffalo breeds that falls prey to Asiatic lions in the Gir Forest National Park.