Poephagus grunniens The yak (Bos grunniens), also known as the Tartary ox, grunting ox,[1] hairy cattle,[2] or domestic yak, is a species of long-haired domesticated cattle found throughout the Himalayan region, the Tibetan Plateau, Tajikistan, the Pamir Mountains, and as far north as Mongolia and Siberia.

The yak may have diverged from cattle at any point between one and five million years ago, and there is some suggestion that it may be more closely related to bison than to the other members of its designated genus.

[4] Apparent close fossil relatives of the yak, such as Bos baikalensis, have been found in eastern Russia, suggesting a possible route by which yak-like ancestors of the modern American bison could have entered the Americas.

Yaks are heavily built animals with bulky frames, sturdy legs, rounded, cloven hooves, and extremely dense, long fur hanging lower than the belly.

In males (bulls), the horns sweep out from the sides of the head and then curve backwards; they typically range from 48 to 99 cm (19 to 39 in) in length.

[10] Both sexes have long, shaggy hair with a dense woolly undercoat over the chest, flanks, and thighs to insulate them from the cold.

Domesticated yaks have a wide range of coat colours, with some individuals being white, grey, brown, roan or piebald.

Nikolay Przhevalsky named the wild variant Bos mutus (silent bull), believing that it did not make a sound at all, but it does.

Further adaptations to the cold include a thick layer of subcutaneous fat and an almost complete lack of functional sweat glands.

[citation needed] They are grazing herbivores, with their wild ancestors feeding primarily on grass and sedges,[16] with some herbs and dwarf shrubs.

For thousands of years,[citation needed] domesticated yaks have been kept in Mongolia and Tibet, primarily for their milk, fibre (wool), and meat, and as beasts of burden.

It is located at Dirang, Arunachal Pradesh, and maintains a yak farm in the Nyukmadung area at an altitude of 2,750 metres (9,020 ft) above MSL.

[5] Successful crosses have also been recorded between yak and American bison,[28] gaur, and banteng, generally with similar results to those produced with domestic cattle.

Both branches also have native terms for yak-cattle hybrids, suggesting that Tibetic and Gyalrongic speakers may have independently cross-bred yaks and cattle, predating the proto-Gyalrongic split (3221 [2169–4319] BP[30]) from Tibeto-Gyalrongic.

[citation needed] In Nepal, an annual festival is held to drink the fresh blood of yak, and it is believed that it cures various diseases such as gastritis, jaundice, and body strain.