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Yak Wikipedia

This article is about the animal. See Yakovlev (aircraft)|Yakovlev for the aircraft and Jeff Minter for the game designer.

Taxobox_begin | color = pink | name = Yak
Taxobox_image | image = Image:Yak_Drawing_historic.jpg|240px|A drawing of a yak | caption =
Taxobox_begin_placement | color = pink
Taxobox_regnum_entry | taxon = Animalia
Taxobox_phylum_entry | taxon = Chordate|Chordata
Taxobox_classis_entry | taxon = mammal|Mammalia
Taxobox_ordo_entry | taxon = Artiodactyla
Taxobox_familia_entry | taxon = Bovidae
Taxobox_genus_entry | taxon = Bos
Taxobox_species_entry | taxon = gruniens
Taxobox_end_placement
Taxobox_section_binomial | color = pink | binomial_name = Bos gruniens | author = Carolus Linnaeus|Linnaeus | date = 1766
Taxobox_end
The yak (Bos grunniens) is a long-haired humped domestic bovine found in Tibet and throughout the Himalayan region of south central Asia. The word yak refers to the male of the species; a female is a dri or nak.

Wild yak stand about two meters tall at the shoulder. Domestic yak are about half that height. Both types have long shaggy hair to insulate them from the cold. Wild yak can be either brown or black. Domesticated ones can also be white. Yak milk is pink.

Domesticated yak are kept primarily for their milk and meat; they are also used as beasts of burden, transporting goods across mountain passes for local farmers and traders as well as in support of climbing and trekking expeditions. Often the pack animals are actually crossbreeds of the yak and Bos taurus (common domestic cattle). These are known in Tibetan as dzo or dzopkyo.

It is a known fact that unlike the cows, the yak grunts rather than mooing. Owing to the fact that many of them are killed for food by the Tibetan people|Tibetans, the wild yak has become an endangered species.|Image:Yaks still provide the best way to plow fields in Tibet.jpg|200px|thumb|Yaks are used to plow fields in much of Asia.|Image:In Tibet, yaks are decorated and honored by the families they are part of.jpg|200px|thumb|In Tibet, yaks are decorated and honored by the families they are part of.

Category:Bovines
Category:Livestock
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zh:牦牛

Last Modified:   2005-04-13