The wild water buffalo (Asian buffalo, wild Asian buffalo) 'Bubalus arnee' (Kerr 1792) - is one of a number of 'Bubalus' species which were widely distributed in Europe and southern Asia in the Pleistocene, but later was restricted to the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia (Mason 1974). Two species, 'B. teilhardi' and 'B.youngi', which were morphologically identified from bone remains in the Wei River valley (Shaanxi Province, China) apparently became extinct during the Pleistocene (Yang et al. 2008). A third species in China, 'B. mephistopheles' (Hopwood, 1925) also found in the Wei River valley and the lower Yangzi River region, survived to the Neolithic and Bronze Age in the Holocene (Liu et al. 2004; Yang et al. 2008). Extant 'Bubalus' species include 'B. mindorensis' (Heude 1888) or tamaraw from Mindoro Island, the Philippines, which is critically endangered (Hedges et al. 2008a), and two species of anoa from Sulawesi, Indonesia: 'B. depressicornis' (C. H. Smith 1827) or lowland anoa and 'B. quarlesi' (Ouwens 1910) or mountain anoa. There is still debate about whether these two are distinct species (Burton et al. 2005), but both are endangered (Semiadi et al. 2008a, 2008b). In historical times, the wild Asian buffalo ranged across South and Southeast Asia from Mesopotamia to Indo-China (Epstein 1971; Mason 1974; Cockrill 1984). It is currently listed as Endangered (Hedges et al. 2008b), with a world population of fewer than 4000, potentially fewer than 200, and it is even possible that no purebred wild animals exist.

The genus 'Bubalus' was widely distributed in Europe and southern Asia in the Pleistocene, but later was restricted to the Indian subcontinent and southeast Asia (Mason 1974.) In historical times, the wild Asian buffalo ('Bubalus arnee', Kerr 1792) ranged across south and southeast Asia from Mesopotamia to Indo-China. It is currently listed as endangered, with a world population fewer than 4,000, potentially fewer than 200, and it is even possible that no purebred wild animals exist.

Asian wild water buffalo ('Bubalus arnee') are large ungulates, and the progenitors of all domestic water buffalo ('Bubalus bubalis'). There are two domestic types: the river buffalo of the Indian sub-continent and further west to the Balkans and Italy (Figure 24.1), and the swamp buffalo of Assam in the west, through Southeast Asia to the Yangtze Valley of China (Figure 24.2). All populations of 'Bubalus arnee' are considered Endangered (IUCN 2013), but in Nepal this species is protected by the National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act (His Majesty's Government Ministry of Law and Justice 1977). There is evidence of buffaloes in the Indus Valley at least 5000 years ago (Nowak 1999; Lenstra & Bradley 1999). Although the historic range is uncertain, the species may have occurred from Mesopotamia to Indochina (Sinclair 1977). River and swamp buffalo were domesticated independently from different wild stocks that diverged anywhere from 10 000-15 000 (Barker et al. 1997) to over one million years ago (Amano 'et al'. 1994), but probably around 128 000-280 000 years ago (Kumar 'et al'. 2007a). River buffalo were domesticated around 6300 BP in the western region of the Indian subcontinent (Kumar 'et a'l. 2007b). Microsatellite and mtDNA diversity analyses (Yindee 2010; Zhang 'et al'. 2011) combined with archaeological evidence (Higham 2002) indicate domestication of the swamp buffalo in southern China/northern Indo-China about 2000 BC.

The wild water buffalo is highly endangered, with the few remaining populations already affected or likely to be increasingly affected by hybridization with domestic buffalo. The work described here was done to evaluate a genetic method to discriminate wild from mixed ancestry (hybrid) and domestic animals, and to identify with high probability those most likely to be purebred wild. Samples from 45animals (phenotypically classified into three groups – ten wild, 28 domestic and seven hybrid) were genotyped for ten microsatellite loci. Although genetic distances among the three groups were small, an assignment test identified two of the 'wild' and seven of the 'domestic' as hybrids. However, sample sizes also are small, indicating the need for a conservative approach in the first instance in using these results. As more animals are genotyped, assignments will become more accurate, and a translocation programme to establish a second Nepalese wild population in a protected area could be undertaken.