Wild water buffalo occur in India, Nepal, Bhutan, Thailand, and Cambodia, with an unconfirmed population in Myanmar. They have been extirpated in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Laos, and Vietnam.[1][2] They are associated with wet grasslands, swamps and densely vegetated river valleys.[4]
In India, they are largely restricted to in and around Kaziranga, Manas and Dibru-Saikhowa National Parks, Laokhowa Wildlife Sanctuary and Bura Chapori Wildlife Sanctuary and in a few scattered pockets in Assam; and in and around D'Ering Memorial Wildlife Sanctuary in Arunachal Pradesh. A small population survives in Balpakram National Park in Meghalaya, and in Chhattisgarh (formerly part of Madhya Pradesh) in the Indravati National Park and the Udanti Wildlife Sanctuary.[2] This population might extend into adjacent parts of Orissa.
In the early 1990s, there may still have been about 3,300–3,500 wild
buffalo in Assam and the adjacent states of northeast India.[6] In 1997, the number was assessed at less than 1,500 mature individuals.[1]
Many surviving populations are believed to have interbred with feral or domestic water buffalo. In the late 1980s, fewer than 100 wild buffalo were left in Madhya Pradesh.[7] By 1992, only 50 animals were estimated to have survived there.[6]
Nepal's only population lives in the Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve, and has grown from 63 individuals in 1976 to 219 individuals in 2009.[8]
Latest census was carried out in 2016 which revealed this population
has now grown significantly and has reached a total of 432 individuals
with 120 males, 182 females and 130 calves. Further more, since there
are no leopard, tiger or dhole in the reserve, the annual growth rate of
wild buffalo is quite high here at over seven percent.[9] With a surge in the population, the authorities are considering a possible transfer of some individuals to the floodplains of Chitwan National Park in order to expand their numbers at other sites within Nepal.[10]
In and around Bhutan's Royal Manas National Park, a small number of wild water buffalo occur. This is part of the sub-population that occurs in India's Manas National Park.[2] In Myanmar, a few animals living independent of human husbandry live in the Hukaung Valley Tiger Reserve.[1]
In Thailand, wild buffalo have been reported to occur in small herds
of less than 40 individuals. A population of 25–60 individuals inhabited
lowland areas of the Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary
between December 1999 and April 2001. This population has not grown
significantly in 15 years, and may be interbreeding with domestic water
buffalo.[11]
The population in Cambodia is confined to a small area of easternmost Mondulkiri and possibly Ratanakiri Provinces. Only a few dozen individuals remain.[12]
The origin and genetic status of the wild buffaloes in Sri Lanka is unclear; these probably descended from introduced domestic stock, and it is thought unlikely that any true wild buffaloes remain there today.[1]
Wild-living populations found elsewhere in Asia are feral. Domestic water buffalo have become feral in northern Australia, Argentina and Bolivia.[4]
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