Page 162 - Present Day Wildlife_Float

The wild yak (Bos mutus) is a large bovid species in the genus bos, which it shares with other
species including domestic cattle and its descendent the domestic yak. The genus is a member of
the subfamily Bovinae, which it shares in the Family Bovidae with other bovid genera, that in-
clude, Greater kudu, Wood bison, European bison, and Forest buffalo, The wild yak is found in
the Himalayan regions of Tibet and
western Qinghai, parts of Xinjiang,
and down into Ladakh in India. It’s
among the largest extant bovid spe-
cies, standing about 1.6 to 2.05 me-
tres at the shoulders, with a body
length around 2.4 to 3.8 metres, and
weighs somewhere around 500 to
1,200 kg.

The wild yak is a large heavily
built animal, with a large hump on
its front shoulders. It has relatively
short but sturdy legs and rounded
cloven hooves. It has a long bushy
tail, and two forward pointing curve
horns around 43cm in length pro-
truding from the top of its large natu-
rally drooping head. It has a long
shaggy guard haired coat, with a very
thick woolly undercoat. A long fringe
of hair grows from the Yak’s lower neck, chest, sides, and thighs, and some
often grow a long skirt-like apron covering the legs. While Domestic yak’s
fur coats are a typically solid white, grey, brown, or black with patches of
white, the wild yak is solid black with shades of rusty brown.

The bulk of today’s wild yak lives at an elevation of around 4,000 to
5,000 metres in the treeless grasslands and cold desert regions of the Tibet-
an plateau. The yak, apart from its heavy fur coat, is an animal designed for
the wild and cold environment it resides. It has few sweat glands, large
lungs and its blood’s high red blood cell count and high concentration of
haemoglobin enable it to live at such high elevations and to survive temper-
atures as low as minus 40 degrees Celsius. They are herd animals and usu-
ally live in mixed herds of about 10 to 30; some males live in bachelor
groups or alone while females with young live in groups at a much higher
elevation. Wild Yaks can’t tolerate warm temperatures, so in the warm
summer months, they migrate in herds numbering hundreds from the warm lower plains to a
much higher and cooler mountainous elevation; returning to the plains in the winter months. De-
spite their looks and size wild yaks are normally timid and shy animals and will bolt for miles at the
slightest hint of a threat or an approaching human. However, this all changes during the rutting
season or defending their young, then yaks stay put, become unpredictable and are very dangerous.

Wild yaks are grazing and browsing herbivores living on a diet of grasses, sedges, herbs, tu-
bers, winter fat shrubs, and mosses. They drink water during the summer months, but in the win-
ter, when watering holes freeze over, resort to eating snow. Wild Yaks are active, usually in small
herds, during the day, and can travel vast distances in search of food and water. Due to the wild na-

ture of their habitat, wild yaks have few predators, but one, the Himalayan wolf is a constant
threat. Others like the Himalayan brown and black bear, and the snow leopards are also known to
occasionally prey on the yak. The wild yak’s response to an approaching predator is to flee to high-
er ground. Their flight however, leaves old and infirm animals vulnerable to being brought down
by the attacker. If young are present the yak will form a tight circle around the young, with those
on the outer side of the ring, swaying their horns and grunting in defiance at the predator. Some-
times, with horns lowered and waving, the herd will stampede toward the predator driving it off.