The buffalo
Archimandrite Nikifor’s Biblical Encyclopedia
(Deut. 14:5) — a cloven-hoofed ruminant animal, permitted to the Israelites for food and forming part of the provisions for Solomon’s table (1 Kings 4:23). The buffalo, together with the related yak, aurochs, and bison, and the domestic ox, belongs to the family of bovines. The buffalo differs from the domestic ox in the greater size of its body, the thickness of its horns, and its greater fondness for water, for wooded, marshy, and boggy places. The buffalo is a fierce and dangerous animal.