Buffalo Buffalo are big, strong, dark-coloured mammals with huge homs. African buffalo live in herds of several hundred - usually near water, as they love to wallow in mud. African buffalo have very bad tempers, so humans have never managed to tame them Water buffalo are found in the wetter areas of Asia. Few are found in the wild now and they are mostly kept as farm animals. Water buffalo have been domesticated for 3,000 years. They are used to pull carts and ploughs, but they can be kept for their meat, milk, and hides. Only a few survive in the wild in Asia, but buffalo are released to run free in the swamps of the Northern Territory of Australia. (Adapted from the Little Animal Encyclopedia. 2007, p.25) ctivity 2​