bovine in tropical Asia Bubalus bubalis was domesticated as a draft animal in Mesopotamia around 3000 BCE, then taken to the Indus civilizations of present-day Pakistan, and eventually through India and China This tropical animal is sensitive to heat (it wallows in water to cool down), so it proved adaptable to milder climates The Arabs brought buffalo to the Middle East around 700 CE, and in the Middle Ages they were introduced throughout Europe The most notable vestige of that introduction is a population approaching 100,000 in the Campagna region south of Rome, which supplies the milk for true mozzarella cheese, mozzarella di bufala Buffalo milk is much richer than cow’s milk, so mozzarella and Indian milk dishes are very different when the traditional buffalo milk is replaced with cow’s milk The Yak The third important dairy bovine is the yak, Bos grunniens This long-haired, bushy-tailed cousin of the common cow is beautifully adapted to the thin, cold, dry air and sparse vegetation of the Tibetan plateau and mountains of central Asia It was domesticated around the same time as lowland cattle Yak milk is substantially richer in fat and protein than cow milk Tibetans in particular make elaborate use of yak butter and various fermented products The Goat The goat and sheep belong to the “ovicaprid” branch of the ruminant family, smaller animals that are especially at home in mountainous country The goat, Capra hircus, comes from a denizen of the mountains and semidesert regions of central Asia, and was probably the first animal after the dog to be domesticated, between 8000 and 9000 BCE in present-day Iran and Iraq It is the hardiest of the Eurasian dairy animals, and will browse just about any sort of vegetation, including .. .the yak, Bos grunniens This long-haired, bushy-tailed cousin of the common cow is beautifully adapted to the thin, cold, dry air and sparse vegetation of the Tibetan plateau and mountains of. .. denizen of the mountains and semidesert regions of central Asia, and was probably the first animal after the dog to be domesticated, between 8000 and 9000 BCE in present-day Iran and Iraq It is the hardiest of. .. Goat The goat and sheep belong to the “ovicaprid” branch of the ruminant family, smaller animals that are especially at home in mountainous country The goat, Capra hircus, comes from a denizen of