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Yak, Tibet

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The yak, Bos grunniens, is a long-haired bovine found throughout the Himalayan region of south Central Asia, the Tibetan Plateau and as far north as Mongolia and Russia. In addition to a large domestic population, there is a small, vulnerable wild yak population.

The English word "yak" derives from the Tibetan (Tibetan: གཡག་; Wylie: g.yag), or gyag – in Tibetan this refers only to the male of the species, the female being called a dri or nak. In English, as in most other languages which have borrowed the word, "yak" is usually used for both sexes.

Wild yaks (Tibetan: འབྲོང་; Wylie: 'brong) usually form herds of between 10 and 30 animals. Their habitat is treeless uplands such as hills, mountains and plateaus between 3,200 and 5,400 m (10,000 and 18,000 ft). Yak physiology is well adapted to high altitudes, having larger lungs and heart than cattle found at lower altitudes, as well as greater capacity for transporting oxygen through their blood. Conversely, yaks do not thrive at lower altitudes. They eat grasses, lichens and other plants. They are insulated by dense, close, matted under-hair as well as their shaggy outer hair. Yaks secrete a special sticky substance in their sweat which helps keep their under-hair matted and acts as extra insulation. This secretion is used in traditional Nepalese medicine. Many wild yaks are killed for food by hunters in China; they are now a vulnerable species. Historically, the main natural predator of the wild yak has been the Tibetan Wolf (Canis lupus chanco).

Thubten Jigme Norbu, the elder brother of Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, reports on his journey from Kumbum in Amdo to Lhasa in 1950 that:

Before long I was to see the vast herds of drongs with my own eyes. 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. Somehow these shy creatures manage to sustain themselves on the stunted grass roots which is all that nature provides in those parts. And what a wonderful sight it is to see a great herd of them plunging head down in a wild gallop across the steppes. The earth shakes under their heels and a vast cloud of dust marks their passage. At nights they will protect themselves from the cold by huddling up together, with the calves in the centre. They will stand like this in a snow-storm, pressed so close together that the condensation from their breath rises into the air like a column of steam. The nomads have occasionally tried to bring up young drongs as domestic animals, but they have never entirely succeeded. 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. Their immemorial relationship with humans has therefore remained that of game and hunter, for their flesh is very tasty.

Yaks are also found in Mongolia, where they roam the plains in great herds. Mongolian yaks are famous for their hopping gait.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yak

Taken in: 中國 / 四川省 / 阿壩藏族羌族自治州 (show map)

Taken on: October 5, 2009

Tags:

Tibet

བོད

2009 ༢༠༠༩

Tibetan Plateau བོད་མཐོ་སྒང་ bö togang

Yak གཡག་

Bos grunniens

wilderness animals དགོན་པའི་རི་དྭགས gönpé ridak

landscape ཡུལ་ལྗོངས། yul ljongs

Nature རང་བྱུང་

Grassland རྩྭ་ཐང་།

mountain ri རི།

Tibetan Wildlife

ColorPhotoAward

Tibetan Ecology Foundation བོད་ཡུལ་སྐྱེ་ཁམས་ཐེབས་རྩ་ཚོགས་པ། bod yul skye khams thebs rtsa tshogs pa

Tibetan Plateau Mammals མཐོ་ སྒང་གི་ གི་ གི་ འོ་འཐུང་སྲོག་ཆགས་ mtho sgang gi gi 'o 'thung srog chags

animal སེམས་ཅན་ sems can

tibetan landscape

animals of tibet

nature « less

Sets appears in: • Tibet བོད 2009 Kham and Amdo • Tibetan Wildlife

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Camera: Nikon D3, f/5.6, 1/1000 sec, 270mm, ISO 450 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Nikon D3
Aperture:	f/5.6
Exposure Time:	0.001 sec (1/1000)
Focal Length:	270mm
ISO:	450
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	No Flash
Exposure Program:	Program AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Gain Control:	Low gain up
Sharpness:	Hard
Color Space:	Uncalibrated
Software:	Capture NX 2.0.0 W
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