Yak

The Yak is a hardy shaggy bovine ruminant mammal commonly domesticated in Tibet and neighbouring areas of central Asia.

Yaks are extremely useful animals:

• They work as beasts of burden, carrying substantial burdens at high altitudes where horses cannot survive. Yaks are extremely sure-footed.

• They give good yields of milk which is made into butter and cheese.

• Their meat is eaten.

• Their hide, hair and horns are used for making clothing, constructing yurts, and many other purposes.

Domestic yaks commonly wear bells round their necks, to facilitate locating them, keeping herds together, and to distinguish them from wild yaks.

A hybrid between the yak and the domestic cow, the dzho (or zo), is also common in the same regions.