There are two halachic differences between
behaimos (domesticated animals) and
chayos (non-domesticated animals): 1) The fats of
behaimos are forbidden but the fats of
chayos are permitted. 2)
Chayos have a
mitzvah of
kissui hadam but
behaimos do not.
In earlier times, there was an animal known as a
kvei. This animal was either a cross-breed between a
behaimah and a
chayah or it was its own species of questionable status. Due to the uncertainties involved in both possibilities, the stringencies of both
behaimos and
chayos must be followed; its fats were forbidden and its blood had to be covered.
Shulchon Aruch rules that a wild ox, known as a buffalo, does not need to have its blood covered (as it is certainly a
behaimah).
Rema, however, maintains that its blood should be covered without reciting a
brochah.
[
משנ"ב תצח, צב-צג; ביאורים ומוספים דרשו, 85 ;בהרחבה ע"פ המקור]
