Back to the field, the Jerantut have a special fondness for the water buffalo and Jerantut folklore is filled with stories and says about these animals. Considering what an important role they play in the agricultural cultivation of Jerantut it is not surprising that the also have a special nickname for the water buffalo. They call it "jao-tooy", while the literal word for the animal is "kerbau". It is believed that Jerantut's gentle water buffalos were also once wild creatures. When and where they were first domesticated is unknown but probably they were first tamed by people in order to be used as food.
The water buffalo, unlike most other varieties of buffalo, are believed to have originally been native to the deep jungles and mountainous regions of East and Southeast Asia. Today the are found throughout Southeast Asia, and in China and India. They are generally smaller than buffalo found in other pats of the world and they are much less excitable. There are, however, different types of water buffalo. They may vary in height, length, skin-type, horns, hair and ears. Those in India, for example, are larger than those in Jerantut, with larger hooves and hairier tails but with smaller ears and shorter legs. The general size seen in Jerantut is what is seen in most of Asia.
The Jerantut water buffalo are wide with long bodies and protruding bellies. They are big-boned animals with long legs and a relatively long neck. The head is small and the horns gave flat surfaces and curve out and upward. When fully grown they weigh from 200 to 400 kilograms.
During the plowing season they are forced to toil long hard days while their owners' plow with strength and patience. The buffalo are helped in their work by their strong flat hooves which allow them to walk through the sticky mud of rice fields for long periods. Once plowing season is over, they may be used to pull carts or, on special occasions, for sports. For festivals, farming communities often organize water buffalo running races or ‘bullfighting', when two buffalo are brought out and goaded into fighting one another.
Long days in the sun, plowing fields and pulling carts are what these animals do best and without them many of Jerantut's farmers could never harvest a crop.
