Water Buffalo
Dylan Frazer
When, How,Where and Why did the Water Buffalo come to Australia?
The Water Buffalo was introduced around 1825, by a bunch of old people who where first convicts but then became settlers. 80 buffalos were brought to Melville Island and Cobourg Peninsula for meat. When these settlements were left in the mid 1900s the buffalo soon colonised the permanent and semi-permanent swamps, and fresh water springs of the top of the Northern Territory ( NT ).
What impact did the Water Buffalo have on the environment?
Bad
The Water Buffalo's bad impact was crushing grass and flattening all the plants, which gave other things a hard time.
when the water buffalos moved them selfs to the northern territory nothing got in there way plants got destroyed and grass got squished.
Good
The water buffalos good impact was it ate lots of terrible plants that were destroying beautiful plants like Typhonium praetermissum, the Cycas armstrongii, the Utricularia singeriana, the buttresses of Intsia bijuga and the Clausena sp. Tipperary. It also had a massive impact on humans as well as the enviroment.
What impact it had on humans?
The impact it had on humans is they were destroying gardens because back then people owned more land then they do now.
The bad impact was that most of water buffalos meat is field shot which means they have been hunted and killed in the wild.
The production of water buffalo meat began in 1959 to supply domestic and export markets.
however since 1968 export certification has required anti-mortem inspection and all water buffalo are now captured alive and moved to abattoir for slaughter.
What animals did it eat?
The water buffalo doesn't eat animals because the water buffalo is herbivorous animal and the water buffalo therefore has a purely vegetarian diet. Water buffalo munch on aquatic plants when they are in water but water buffalo seem to prefer to leave the water to find grassland where the water buffalo can graze on grasses, leaves and herbs.
weight, size and length and colour?
- Size: Head and body, 8 to 9 feet (2.4 to 2.7 m); Tail 2 to 3.3 feet (60 to 100 cm)
- Weight: 1,500 to 2,650 lbs (700 to 1,200 kg)
- Group Name: Herd
- Did you know? The domesticated water buffalo is often referred to as the “living tractor of the East,” as it is relied upon for plowing and transportation in many parts of Asia.
- Protection status: Endangered