When FAO published a major work in 1974 (Ross Cockrill), reviewing for the first time the then existing information relating to the water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis), Sir John Grenfell E Crawford, the Vice Chancellor of the Australian National University, introduced it by unr' rlining that “among all farming livestock which science had neglected, the domestic buffalo served as an outstanding example of genera failure to recognise and exploit its production potential” Since then a world-wide interest has developed in this species, not only as a purveyor of anima protein for human consumption, but also because of a growing interest in the diversification of products of animal origin and the manufacture of typical regiona products as well as a variety of renewed uses of these animals. Furthermore, the strong image linking the buffalo with nature and the environment's ecological equilibrium, particularly in some of the world's more marginal lands, shows this species as one of the most viable alternatives of intensive cattle husbandry systems which are more and more under accusation in an environment-conscious society.