Jafarabadi buffalo, Jaffrabadi buffalo or Gir buffalo[1] is a 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]