Over the last three decades, the population of the Toda buffalo has declined by more than 90%.
It is an indigenous species of water buffalo linked to the culture of the Toda tribals.
Toda tribe is one of the very oldest Dravidian ethnic groups residing in the Upper Nilgiris plateau in Tamil Nadu.
In a new initiative, the Sheep Breeding Research Station at Sandynallah in the Nilgiris has begun a captive breeding program to help the population re-establish itself in the hills.
The buffalo population is ranged from 15,000 to 20,000 across the Nilgiris just a few decades ago.