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Region: Asia Class: Mammalia Order: Artiodactyla Family: Bovidae Genus: Bos Scientific Name: Bos mutus grunniens
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Description:
Yaks are heavily built with humped shoulders. The black long thin angular horns point straight out sideways, then up with the tip tilted backwards. Their legs are short for their size. Wild yaks are bigger than domestic yaks and have bigger horns.
Height at shoulder: 1.6 m
Weight: up to 800 kg
Horns: up to 90 cm
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Distribution:
Central Asia from Buchare in the west to Bhutan and Nepal in the south to the interior of Mongolia in the east and to the mountain ranges south of Lake Baikal.
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Habitat:
The pastures and grass fields of the high mountain plateaus. Yaks are sure footed climbers and can negotiate steep mountain cliffs quite easily.
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Food:
Herbivorous. Herbs, leaves, grasses, lichens. They drink frequently during the summer and eat snow in winter.
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Reproduction and Development:
Big bulls fight for the possession of the females by pushing against each other with their foreheads but doing no real damage. Wild yak cows have calves every two years. Domestic yak cows usually have calves every year in the autumn. The gestation period is 10 months. In the Toronto Zoo females usually have calves every year in the spring. Life span is 25 years.
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Adaptations:
The domestic yak requires very little food and can withstand the very cold temperatures of -40 C. Yaks do not move about very much. They may spend days in the same pasture alternately grazing and lying down to ruminate. During severe blizzards the yak turns it broad bushy tail into the storm and remains motionless for hours.
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Threats to Survival:
The wild yak has to compete with the domestic yak for grazing and is driven into the highest and most inaccessible places of the mountains. They are now protected in China but their numbers are still declining.
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Status:
Wild yak CITES 1. The wild yak is ENDANGERED.
The domestic yak is protected by man and their status is COMMON.
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Zoo Diet:
Herbivore ruminant cubes, timothy hay, cattle mineral, cobalt iodized and trace mineralized salt blocks.
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Animal Fact Sheet
The New Tundra Trek