FIAPO

A buffalo cannot sweat the way a horse or human can. That single fact explains everything about what Kambala costs him.

When humans overheat, 2 to 4 million sweat glands kick in and cool the body down. When a horse sprints, 810 sweat glands fire per square centimetre of skin. He can shed up to 20 litres of sweat in an hour. His body was built for exactly this.

A buffalo's sweat gland density is six times lower than a cow's. He cools down by standing in water or panting slowly in shade. Take those away, put him on a race track, and his body has almost no way to manage the heat building inside it.

So when he sprints those 140 metres, heat accumulates with nowhere to go. His heart rate crosses safe limits. His breathing becomes laboured. His temperature climbs.

The race ends in 12 seconds. His body is still catching up long after.
This is not about fitness or training. A buffalo cannot be trained out of his own biology. What Kambala asks of him is simply something his body was never designed to give.



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