The pinyin for "water buffalo" is shuǐ niú, with the consonants sh and n, and the rhymes ui and iu.

The water buffalo is a large animal. Body length 240-300 centimeters, shoulder height 150-180 centimeters, tail length 60-100 centimeters; wild male buffaloes weigh up to 1,200 kilograms, females weigh up to 800 kilograms; domesticated buffaloes range from 250-550 kilograms. Males are slightly larger.

Strong body, sparse coat, mostly gray-black; thick skin, sweat glands are extremely underdeveloped, when hot, need to be dipped in water to dissipate heat, so the name buffalo; hooves are large, solid, resistant to dipping, knee joints and ball joints are flexible in their movement, the buffalo's ears are shorter and smaller, the head and forehead are narrower and longer, the hair on the back of the midline is forward, the back is inclined towards the back of the lower part of the body, and the horns are more slender.

Extended information:

China as a large agricultural country, buffaloes can be used for agricultural production, but with the promotion and popularization of mechanical farming, the role of buffaloes as servants has been reduced, and the role of meat and milk production has come into people's view, for example, in Rui'an, Zhejiang Province, and the Chaoshan area of Guangdong Province, the locals use buffalo's milk to make the "Milk Cake" and "Milk Tofu". For example, in Rui'an, Zhejiang Province and Chaoshan, Guangdong Province, local people make "milk cake", "milk tofu" and "ginger milk" with buffalo milk. With calves fattened for 58 days at the age of 19~24 months, the slaughter rate and net meat rate can reach 50.8% and 39.3%, and the milk production performance is a little inferior to the previous 2 breeds.

China's buffaloes are mainly found in rice-producing areas south of the Huaihe River, with Sichuan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hunan, Hubei and Yunnan provinces having the largest number of buffaloes. China's buffaloes include there are 18 local varieties of good breed buffaloes, such as Shanghai buffaloes, Haizi buffaloes, Binhu buffaloes, Jianghan buffaloes, Dechang buffaloes, Dehong buffaloes, Wenzhou buffaloes, Xilin buffaloes, Fuzhong buffaloes, Fu'an buffaloes, and so on.

Baidu Encyclopedia-Buffalo