[citation needed] Their large abdomen and long digestive tract allow them to make efficient use both of grass and browse.

They grow subcutaneous fat very quickly during the short pasture season and survive under poor feed conditions in winter.

[2][3][4] A compelling example of this is the case of several cows which survived on their own in the taiga forest for three months in late 2011 in deep snows and temperatures reaching as low as –40 °C (–40 °F).

The Sakha (i.e. Yakuts) brought it from the southern Baikal region to the lower reaches of the Lena, the Yana, the Indigirka and the Kolyma rivers when they migrated northward in the 13th century.

[4] Together with the Yakutian horse, it was the basis of the Sakha culture of meat and dairy livestock in the harsh conditions of the Russian Far North.

[1][4] Consequently, the Yakutian cattle are classified as an endangered breed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

[4] 74% of the cattle are to be found the Eveno-Bytantaysky District, 150 km north of the polar circle on the lower reaches of the Lena River and close to the northern pole of cold (see climate data), the others were moved to the southern part of the Sakha Republic in the first years of this century.