Domestic yak

Around 5,000 years ago, farmers in Tibet began domesticating livestock. Nevertheless, domestic yaks, like their ancestors, are still quite wild and skittish. Cows with juveniles tend to display aggressive behaviour.

The wild yak’s coat colours are dark brown and black. Domesticated varieties also display reddish, white and piebald coat colours.

Domestic yaks form the basis of livelihood for many peoples in Central Asia. They provide milk, meat, leather, hair and wool. Their dried dung is used as fuel.

Yaks are exceptionally well adapted to damp and cold conditions. This is because they are the only bovines with a multi-layered coat consisting of guard hairs as well as coarse and fine undercoat hairs. When moulting, the animal mostly sheds only the undercoat hairs.

Yaks can easily withstand temperatures as low as minus 40 degrees Celsius. In extreme cold, their breathing rate drops to as low as seven breaths per minute. This minimises heat loss during inhalation and exhalation.