Cattle, buffalo, and bison.

Cattle, buffalo, and bison belong to the Bovidae family of oxenlike animals. Cattle include both the humpless Bos taurus (comprising the so-called European breeds) and the humped Bos indicus (known as Zebu cattle); both are of the same species in that they are fully interfertile. Buffalo, or Asiatic or water buffalo, include the river buffalo and swamp buffalo. Bison come in three varieties (interfertile and hence of the same species), namely the European wood bison, the American plains bison, and the American wood bison; while the latter two are commonly referred to as buffalo, they are actually more closely related to cattle than to the Asiatic buffalo. Cattle, Asiatic buffalo, and bison constitute three of the five genera in this family, the other two being the African buffalo (Syncerus caffer) and the yak (Poephagus grunniens), although the latter is sometimes classified in the same genus as cattle (Bos).