Carabao

Carabaos are a genetically distinct population of swamp-type water buffalo, Bubalus bubalis kerabau, native to the Philippines and later introduced to Borneo, Sulawesi and Guam; genetic studies trace their ancestry to the swamp buffalo of Taiwan, descended from the Neolithic rice-farming cultures of the Yangtze Delta. Males stand 127 to 137 centimeters and weigh 420 to 500 kilograms, females stand 124 to 129 centimeters and weigh 400 to 425 kilograms, and the animal has light to slate grey coloring with backward-curving sickle-shaped horns, with about 3 percent of the population showing albino traits. Carabaos serve chiefly as draught animals for paddy rice cultivation and also provide milk, meat known as carabeef, and hides for leather, and were historically used to pull sleds and carts. Though widely regarded as the Philippine national animal, that status has never been formally, legally established.