Wild buffaloes are tied to the availability of water: historically their preferred habitats were low-lying alluvial grasslands and their surrounds, with riparian forests and woodlands also used (Lydekker 1926; Prater 1971; Choudhury 1994). In Indochina the species frequented the lowlands dominated by deciduous forests and with a marked dry season, where it apparently used small pools and marshes, in addition to permanently flowing rivers (Wharton 1957). Free-ranging domestic animals continue to live like this today; in such areas buffalo retreat to the vicinities of larger more permanent waterbodies during the height of the dry season, but move widely through the forests at other times of the year (Timmins and Ou 2001; R.J. Timmins pers. comm. 2008).