Yak | |
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A yak in the Nepalese Himalayas. | |
Domesticated
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Scientific classification ![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Artiodactyla |
Family: | Bovidae |
Subfamily: | Bovinae |
Genus: | Bos |
Species: | B. grunniens
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Binomial name | |
Bos grunniens Linnaeus, 1766
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The domestic yak (Bos grunniens) is a long-haired domesticated bovid found throughout the Himalayan region of the Indian subcontinent, the Tibetan Plateau and as far north as Mongolia and Russia. It is descended from the wild yak (Bos mutus).[1]
Scientists have used genetics and archaeology to study the history of yaks. They have found that there were domesticated yaks on the Tibetan Plateau 2,500 years ago.[2]
Yaks are kept for their milk, wool, and meat. Also, they are used for transportation. Their dried droppings are burned as fuel in fires.