Domestic Yak
Bos grunniens
🦬
Chordata
Mammalia
Artiodactyla
Pecora
Bovidae
Bos
Bos grunniens
The High-Altitude Workhorse of the Himalayas, the Yak is a thick-furred bovine built for survival in the world’s coldest mountain plateaus. Once both a wild prey species and a key domesticate of early Tibetan peoples, it has carried loads, provided food, and sustained human life at extreme altitudes for millennia.
Description
Yak (Bos grunniens) — The domestic yak is a powerful, shaggy-haired bovine adapted to the thin, cold air of the Tibetan Plateau and Central Asian highlands. It thrives at elevations between 3,200 m and 5,400 m, with a dense undercoat and long outer hair that protect it from temperatures as low as –40 °C. Males can weigh between 350–580 kg, while wild relatives (Bos mutus) may exceed 1,000 kg and stand up to 2 m at the shoulder. Its large lungs and oxygen-rich blood are specialized for high-altitude survival. Domesticated for over 4,500 years, yaks remain essential for transport, milk, meat, and wool among Himalayan peoples. The wild yak, however, is now endangered, threatened by hunting, hybridization, and habitat loss.
Quick Facts
Max Mass
Shoulder Height
Standing Height
Length
Diet
Trophic Level
500
1.6
2.4
3
kg
m
m
m
Mixed Feeder
Herbivores – Grazers
Hunt History
Archaeological evidence shows that early highland hunters of the Pleistocene–Holocene transition (circa 12,000–10,000 years BP) hunted wild yaks for meat and hides in the cold grasslands of the Tibetan Plateau. The species’ great size and rich fat stores made it a prime target during glacial winters. Stone tools and cut-marked bones found in cave and plateau sites indicate coordinated group hunts—often driving herds into ravines or snowdrifts to trap them. Over time, selective capture and taming led to domestication, transforming a once-hunted megafaunal species into a cornerstone of pastoral culture.
Earliest Archaeological Evidence of Human Predation:
Qiuwa Cave, Tibet (c. 12,000 BP) — Yak bones with cut marks and associated stone tools.
Putuoshan Site, Qinghai Plateau (c. 10,000 BP) — Butchered yak remains with fire and tool evidence.
Khumjung Valley, Nepal (c. 8,000 BP) — Early evidence of managed yak herds and selective breeding after millennia of hunting.
Time & Range
Extinction Status
Domesticated
Extinction Date
Temporal Range
Region
4000
BP
Late Pleistocene
Asia
Wiki Link
Fat Analysis
Fatness Profile:
Medium
Fat %
6
Est. Renderable Fat
30
kg
Targeted Organs
Hump/backfat, marrow, mesenteric fat
Adipose Depots
Hump/backfat, mesenteric, perirenal; marrow
Preferred Cuts
Hump/backfat & marrow
Hunt Difficulty (x/5)
4