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.