The nomads have occasionally tried to bring up young drongs as domestic animals, but they have never entirely succeeded. Herds can contain several hundred individuals, although they are often much smaller. Except where the wild yak is considered as a subspecies of Bos grunniens, there are no recognised subspecies of yak. The dried dung of the yak is the only obtainable fuel on the treeless Tibetan plateau. Yaks are … Tibetans make this tea by adding yak milk, butter, and salt to black tea from Pemagul to make the traditional drink, which fortifies drinkers against the Himalaya Mountains' thin, cold air. When a yak dies of natural causes, its bones find new life as jewelry and tent fastenings per Buddhist teachings. Hundreds of years ago, something peculiar happened… People started finding dragon teeth along the creeks and the shores of oceans. In China, where they are known as “hairy cattle,” yaks are heavily fringed with long black hair over a shorter blackish or brown undercoat that can keep them warm to –40 °C (−40 °F). During the festival, the ornate sculptures line streets lit by lamps burning yak butter. Wild yaks are threatened by over-hunting, habitat loss, and hybridization with domestic yaks. For the related species Bos mutus, see. Yaks are members of the Bos genus, which comprises oxen and true cattle. [10], Compared with domestic cattle, the rumen of yaks is unusually large, relative to the omasum. Today the International Union for Conservation of Nature puts the global population at under 10,000 wild yaksâin other words, officially vulnerable to extinctionâdue to poaching, habitat loss, and interbreeding. The yak is a long-haired, short-legged cousin of the cow, native to the high plains plateaus of Tibet. Yaks are large, long haired cattle, usually with medium length horns. For starters, the shark may […] Read More. They have three times the lung capacity of cows and have more and smaller red blood cells, which allows them to transport oxygen more efficiently. Females are usually able to produce calves every other year from three years of age, though neither males nor females do not reach full size until they are 6 – 8 years old. 3 4 1. They will starve unless they can be brought to a place where there is grass. Domesticated yaks have a wide range of coat colours, with some individuals being white, grey, brown, roan or piebald. Yaks are gregarious animals, and sometimes form herds of up to 200 animals, although most herds are much smaller, at about 10 – 20 individuals. [citation needed], Yaks in Manali, Himachal Pradesh, India saddled for riding, Train of pack yaks at Litang monastery in Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan, China, "Yak" redirects here. Yaks typically mate between July and September. Domestic yaks are descended from the wild species. The yak tends to gather in herds from 10 yaks to 100 yaks, most of which are female. Scientists believe that Qiang tribespeople domesticated yaks at least 5,000 years ago, a claim supported by genetic evidence. Glimpse firsthand the importance of the yak in Tibetan culture on a trip with National Geographic Journeys. Some Tibetans are said to sip the high-calorie tea all day long, though thatâs mostly restricted to nomads of the higher plateaus above 17,000 feet. The udder in females and the scrotum in males are small and hairy, as protection against the cold. Get a crash course on all things yakâand their role in Himalayan lifeâwith these surprising facts about Tibetâs version of a cash cow. Gestation lasts between 257 and 270 days, resulting in the birth of a single calf in May or June. They belong to Bovidae, the same family as the Asian water buffalo, the African buffalo and the American bison. [8], Both sexes have long shaggy hair with a dense woolly undercoat over the chest, flanks, and thighs to insulate them from the cold. They frequently drink during the summer and eat snow in the winter to stay hydrated. Amazing Facts About the Yak. They can live at altitudes of up to 18,000 ft (5,400 m), and can easily tolerate temperatures of -40° F (-40° C). Wild yaks are sometimes San Diego Zoo's Wildlife Park is one exception where visitors can see yak as well as other species. Yak milk has high natural concentrates of fat, protein, and lactose, ranging between 4.0 and 7.5 percent, making it a superfood, according to the China Nutrition Society. Males often wallow in dry soil during rut and scent-mark with urine or dung. The ancestor of the wild and domestic yak is thought to have diverged from Bos primigenius at a point between one and five million years ago. The horns of females (cows) are smaller, only 27 to 64 cm (11 to 25 in) in length, and have a more upright shape. Such bacterial diseases include anthrax, botulism, tetanus, and tuberculosis. [3] Successful crosses have also been recorded between yak and American bison,[18] gaur, and banteng, generally with similar results to those produced with domestic cattle. Therefore, close relatives of the yak … After 1900 they were hunted almost to extinction by Tibetan and Mongolian herders and military personnel. in the Andes and the yak in the Himalayas, are adapted rather than acclimatized to the low oxygen partial pressures of high altitude. The Chinese Golden Yak, an endangered subspecies of the wild yak, only has about 170 individuals left in the wild. In Tibetan and Balti it refers only to the male of the species, the female being called Tibetan: འབྲི་, Wylie: 'bri or Tibetan: གནག, Wylie: g.nag in Tibetan and Tibetan: ཧཡག་མོ་, Wylie: hYag-mo in Balti. n. 1. Wild yaks live in alpine meadows and steppes in Asia. Bos mutus, means mute ox, while Bos grunniens means grunting ox. Yaks are large, long haired cattle, usually with medium length horns. Ruminant grazers, wild yaks migrate seasonally to the lower plains to eat grasses and herbs. Yaks do not graze in the same way that cows do. Disturbance by and interbreeding with livestock herds is also common. 9 7 2. Yaks are kept primarily for their meat, milk, fiber, and as beasts of burden (transporting goods or pulling plows for local farmers and traders, and climbing and trekking expeditions). Just how impressive was megalodon? By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica. Yaks belong to the genus Bos and are therefore related to cattle (Bos primigenius species). They are commonly found in alpine tundra with thick grasses and sedges that provide their food. While wild yaks are generally dark, blackish to brown in colouration, domestic yaks can be quite variable in colour, often having patches of rusty brown and cream. Some populations extend into the southernmost parts of Xinjiang and India. These are formed mostly of females and young with the occasional male. They can withstand frigid temperatures that can reach. zsienvis.nic.in", Snapping the Yak: How an Iconic Photo Ended Up on Nepal's Currency, "Sex differences in ecology of wild yaks at high elevation in the Kekexili Reserve, Tibetan Qinghai Plateau, China", "4 The Yak in Relation to Its Environment", "Bacterial and Viral Zoonotic Diseases of Yak", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wild_yak&oldid=983341779, CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles containing Chinese-language text, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 13 October 2020, at 17:58. Herds can contain several hundred individuals, although many are much smaller. 10 11 1. There are about 12 million domestic yaks in the world, but only 10,000 to 15,000 wild yaks. India and China have officially protected wild yaks, with the latter even creating special reserves where many herds of the wild population are located. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Animals.NET aim to promote interest in nature and animals among children, as well as raise their awareness in conservation and environmental protection. [11] Conversely, yaks have trouble thriving at lower altitudes,[12] and are prone to suffering from heat exhaustion above about 15 °C (59 °F). It is descended from the wild yak (Bos mutus).[1]. Most males live in bachelor herds or are solitary. They are also endangered because of interbreeding with domestic cattle. Despite its ability to breed with cattle, it has been argued that the yak should be returned to its former genus, Poephagus. [18], Crosses between yaks and domestic cattle (Bos primigenius taurus) have been recorded in Chinese literature for at least 2,000 years. [4] The females are about one-third the weight and are about 30% smaller in their linear dimensions when compared to bull wild yaks. Son habitat est composé de hauts-plateaux dégarnis, de collines et de montagnes à des altitudes comprises entre 3 200 et 5 400 mètres. Solitary males are particularly vulnerable to poaching. The English word "yak" is a loan originating from Tibetan: .mw-parser-output .uchen{font-family:"BabelStone Tibetan Slim",Jomolhari,"Noto Sans Tibetan","Microsoft Himalaya",Kailash,"DDC Uchen","TCRC Youtso Unicode","Tibetan Machine Uni","Qomolangma-Uchen Sarchen","Qomolangma-Uchen Sarchung","Qomolangma-Uchen Suring","Qomolangma-Uchen Sutung","Qomolangma-Title","Qomolangma-Subtitle","DDC Rinzin","Qomolangma-Woodblock","Qomolangma-Dunhuang"}.mw-parser-output .ume{font-family:"Qomolangma-Betsu","Qomolangma-Chuyig","Qomolangma-Drutsa","Qomolangma-Edict","Qomolangma-Tsumachu","Qomolangma-Tsuring","Qomolangma-Tsutong","TibetanSambhotaYigchung","TibetanTsugRing","TibetanYigchung"}གཡག་, Wylie: g.yag. Wild calves are initially brown in color, and only later develop the darker adult hair. [11][12] This discovery later made the species to be painted on Nepal's currency. The tail is long and horselike rather than tufted like the tails of cattle or bison. The Yak is one example of such an animal totem/spirit animal. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/expeditions/get-inspired/inside-look/what-is-a-yak-fun-yak-facts.html. Mitochondrial DNA analyses to determine the evolutionary history of yaks have been inconclusive. [9], Wild yaks mate in summer and give birth to a single calf the following spring. [3], Domesticated yaks have been kept for thousands of years, primarily for their milk, fibre and meat, and as beasts of burden. They eat early in the morning and evening and don't move about much, often sleep most of the day. Otra car… Both sexes have a distinctive hump over their shoulders. [17], CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (, Raju Acharya, Yadav Ghimirey, Geraldine Werhahn, Naresh Kusi, Bidhan Adhikary, Binod Kunwar, 2015, Wild yak Bos mutus in Nepal: rediscovery of a flagship species. [17] According to the International Veterinary Information Service, the low productivity of second generation cattle-yak crosses makes them suitable only as meat animals. Yaks are heavily built animals with a sturdy frame that have long, thick hair. Wild yaks live primarily in northern Tibet and the western Chinese province of Qinghai. Define yak. Nikolay Przhevalsky named the wild variant Bos mutus (silent bull) believing that it did not make a sound at all, but it does. Yaks split from aurochs sometime between one million and five million years ago. In addition to non-violent threat displays, bellowing, and scraping the ground with their horns, bull yaks also compete more directly, repeatedly charging at each other with heads lowered or sparring with their horns. Calves are weaned at a year old and become independent shortly thereafter. Domestic yaks far outnumber wild ones and are bred for their tractability for plowing and threshing, high milk production, meat, hides and fur. Flowers. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). [1], The primary habitat of wild yaks consists of treeless uplands between 3,000 and 5,500 m (9,800 and 18,000 ft), dominated by mountains and plateaus. Yaks are herbivores. [9], The wild yak is currently considered to be Vulnerable by the IUCN. Wild yaks are herd animals. The herds consist primarily of females and their young, with a … Yaks are cattle and, as such, their care requirements are very similar to those of other domestic cattle. The tea is generally consumed by those living on plateaus above 17,000 feet. Wiener, Gerald; Jianlin, Han; Ruijun, Long (2003). Females generally give birth for the first time at three or four years of age,[16] and reach their peak reproductive fitness at around six years. 7 7 0. In the family Bovidae, the yak belongs to the same genus as cattle as well as the banteng, gaur, and kouprey of Southeast Asia. Domestic yaks have been introduced to many areas. [1] Although wild yaks can become aggressive when defending young, or during the rut, they generally avoid humans, and may flee for great distances if approached. A wild, shaggy-haired ox of the mountains of central Asia. It is believed that ancient Qiang herdsmen domesticated yaks some 10,000 years ago. Carex, Stipa, and Kobresia are among their favorite grasses. Yaks, on the other hand, scrape off grass with their tongue, leaving the soil intact. In contrast to…, …bears, lesser pandas, and Tibetan yaks have limited populations. [7] Depending on the breed, domestic yak males are 111–138 centimetres (44–54 in) high at the withers, while females are 105–117 centimetres (41–46 in) high at the withers. Females have four teats with an udder that is small and hairy. Somehow once they live together with human beings they seem to lose their astonishing strength and powers of endurance; and they are no use at all as pack animals, because their backs immediately get sore. All have warm, dense fur that hangs below their bellies and a wooly undercoat that covers their chest, flanks, and thighs. Yak, (Bos grunniens), long-haired, short-legged oxlike mammal that was probably domesticated in Tibet but has been introduced wherever there are people at elevations of 4,000–6,000 metres (14,000–20,000 feet), mainly in China but also in Central Asia, Mongolia, and Nepal. Yak attacks: Though the yak is mighty, it isnât invincible. Yak, (Bos grunniens), long-haired, short-legged oxlike mammal that was probably domesticated in Tibet but has been introduced wherever there are people at elevations of 4,000–6,000 metres (14,000–20,000 feet), mainly in China but also in Central Asia, Mongolia, and Nepal. The head and body length is 2.5 to 3.4 m (8.2 to 11 ft), not counting the tail of 60 to 100 cm (24 to 39 in). Mitochondrial DNA analyses to determine the evolutionary history of yaks have been inconclusive. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree.... Get exclusive access to content from our 1768 First Edition with your subscription. Consuming the hard-to-chew cheese can take several hours, making it an ideal snack for a trek across the grasslandsâand, in recent years, a popular dog snack in North America, Britain, and Japan. Yaks have a lifespan of approximately 20 to 25 years, although some wild yaks may have a shorter life span. Females enter estrus up to four times a year, yet mating typically occurs in late summer, sometimes even into September depending on the local environment. Most zoos only have room for one type of wild cattle species, so they choose buffalo, bison or yak. Yak dung is the only fuel available on the treeless Tibetan tundra. Small numbers survive in northern Tibet and the Ladakh steppe of India, but they are not effectively protected. [15] The remaining males are either solitary, or found in much smaller groups, averaging around six individuals. Especially in bulls, this may form a long "skirt" that can reach the ground. Quick facts. The sight of those beautiful and powerful beasts who from time immemorial have made their home on Tibet's high and barren plateaux never ceased to fascinate me. For the remainder of the year, many bulls wander in small bachelor groups away from the large herds, but, as the rut approaches, they become aggressive and regularly fight among each other to establish dominance. Butter made from yaks' milk is an ingredient of the butter tea that Tibetans consume in large quantities,[21] and is also used in lamps and made into butter sculptures used in religious festivities. Disturbance by domestic livestock brings disease as well as interbreeding. All rights reserved. These herds often only comprise the females and their young, though adult males may sometimes travel with the herd. Isolated populations of these animals are also spread throughout central Asia. Further adaptations to the cold include a thick layer of subcutaneous fat, and an almost complete lack of functional sweat glands. In both China and India, the species is officially protected; in China it is present in a number of large nature reserves. Like bison (genus Bison), the head droops before high massive shoulders; horns are 80 cm (30 inches) long in the males, 50 cm in females. Distinguished by handlebar horns and long hair, this high-altitude bovine cousin of the cow grazes across the grasslands of the Tibetan Plateau. The tail is long and similar to a horse’s tail, rather than the tail of cattle or bison, which are tufted. They have small ears and wide foreheads, with smooth horns that are generally dark in colour. Most females only give birth every other year, although more frequent births can occur if food is plentiful. They begin giving birth at about three to four years of age, with peak fertility at approximately six years. 7 9 0. They have bulky frames and sturdy legs that end in rounded, cloven hooves. They also eat a smaller amount of herbs, winterfat shrubs, and mosses, and have even been reported to eat lichen. Sturdy and sure of foot, these ultimate pack animals can cross high mountain passes carrying heavy loads of up to 150 pounds and are sometimes called the âboats of the plateau.â. When there is snow on the ground, yaks use their horns to uncover the plants below. Calves are weaned at one year and become independent shortly thereafter. [10] Females of both the wild and domestic forms typically give birth only once every other year,[3] although more frequent births are possible if the food supply is good. They will not eat grain, which could be carried on the journey. All yaks are similar in appearance, although, as previously mentioned, wild yaks are larger. However, some Tibetan peoples may have possibly domesticated yaks as long as 10,000 years ago. What is a yak? What is the difference between a yak and a buffalo? CTRL + SPACE for auto-complete. Yak butter and milk as well as salt are added to a special black tea from Pemagul to make the soupy traditional drink, which fortifies against the thin, cold air of the Himalaya Mountains. Yak Nepal Himalaya Yak. Coarse outer hair is turned into ropes, tents and wigs. Itâs a resourceful and practical system, but unfortunately one with a steep environmental cost: recent studies show that yak dung burning in Tibet may produce more than 1,000 annual tons of black carbon, which is said to be the second leading cause of global warming. 2. [23], In parts of Tibet and Karakorum, yak racing is a form of entertainment at traditional festivals and is considered an important part of their culture. Females have four teats. See more. Poaching, including commercial poaching, has remained the most serious threat; males are particularly impacted because of their more solitary habits. Their droppings are also used as fuel.
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