{"id":25941,"date":"2025-04-22T10:14:55","date_gmt":"2025-04-22T04:44:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=25941"},"modified":"2025-05-28T13:21:16","modified_gmt":"2025-05-28T07:51:16","slug":"yaks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/yaks\/","title":{"rendered":"Yak"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Yak Latest News<\/h2>\n<p>Nepal observed its first-ever \u2018National Yak Day\u2019 on April 20, 2025, to honor the cultural, ecological, and economic value of the yak in the Himalayan region.<\/p>\n<h2>Why in the News?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The\u00a0<strong>International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD)<\/strong>\u00a0urged stakeholders to\u00a0<strong>elevate the yak<\/strong>\u00a0to its\u00a0<strong>rightful place in the sustainable development agenda<\/strong>, especially across the\u00a0<strong>Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH)<\/strong>\u00a0region.<\/li>\n<li>ICIMOD emphasised that\u00a0<strong>indigenous communities<\/strong>\u00a0like the\u00a0<strong>Sherpa, Tamang, Thakali, Rai<\/strong>, and\u00a0<strong>Limbu<\/strong>\u00a0have historically protected and practiced yak herding, linking it with\u00a0<strong>food security, cultural identity, and biodiversity conservation<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Biological and Geographic Features of Yak<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Scientific Name<\/strong>:<strong>Wild yak<\/strong>:\u00a0<i>Bos mutus;\u00a0<\/i><strong>Domesticated yak<\/strong>:\u00a0<i>Bos grunniens<\/i><\/li>\n<li><strong>Habitat<\/strong>:\u00a0<strong>Wild yaks inhabit alpine tundra<\/strong>\u00a0at altitudes of\u00a0<strong>5000 to 7000 meters<\/strong>. They thrive in environments such as\u00a0<strong>alpine meadows, alpine steppes, and desert steppes<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Geographic distribution<\/strong>: Found throughout the\u00a0<strong>Himalayan region, Tibetan plateau, Mongolia<\/strong>, and parts of\u00a0<strong>South-Central Asia<\/strong>.\n<ul>\n<li>In\u00a0<strong>India<\/strong>, yaks are reared in\u00a0<strong>Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh<\/strong>, and the\u00a0<strong>union territories of Jammu &amp; Kashmir and Ladakh<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Physical Characteristics of Yak<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Wild yaks<\/strong>\u00a0are around\u00a0<strong>2 meters tall at the shoulder<\/strong>, while\u00a0<strong>domesticated yaks<\/strong>\u00a0are smaller.<\/li>\n<li>They have\u00a0<strong>long, shaggy hair<\/strong>\u00a0for insulation and\u00a0<strong>curved horns<\/strong>, with\u00a0<strong>larger horns in males<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Their\u00a0<strong>lung capacity is nearly three times<\/strong>\u00a0that of cattle, with\u00a0<strong>smaller red blood cells<\/strong>, making them\u00a0<strong>highly adapted to high-altitude, low-oxygen environments<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Yaks are\u00a0<strong>herbivorous<\/strong>, feeding on grasses and alpine plants.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Uses and Socio-Economic Importance:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Domesticated yaks<\/strong>\u00a0are used for\u00a0<strong>milk, meat<\/strong>, and as\u00a0<strong>pack animals<\/strong>, transporting goods across\u00a0<strong>mountain passes<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>They are also used in\u00a0<strong>climbing and trekking expeditions<\/strong>, capable of ascending up to\u00a0<strong>20,000 feet<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Yaks are often crossbred with domestic cattle to produce\u00a0<strong>dzo or chauri gai<\/strong>, which are\u00a0<strong>adaptable hybrids<\/strong>\u00a0used in\u00a0<strong>agropastoralism<\/strong>\u00a0across\u00a0<strong>altitudinal gradients<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Conservation Status: Wild yaks are listed as \u2018Vulnerable\u2019<\/strong>\u00a0on the\u00a0<strong>IUCN Red List<\/strong>, indicating the need for urgent\u00a0<strong>conservation efforts<\/strong>\u00a0to protect their habitats and genetic diversity.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Source:\u00a0<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.downtoearth.org.in\/wildlife-biodiversity\/elevate-yak-to-its-rightful-place-in-sustainable-development-agenda-says-icimod-as-nepal-observes-first-day-dedicated-to-humble-bovid\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">DTE<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Yak is a long-haired, domesticated bovid species (Bos grunniens), primarily found in the Himalayan region, including India, Nepal, Bhutan, and Tibet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":45916,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[21,23,215],"class_list":{"0":"post-25941","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-prelims-current-affairs","8":"tag-prelims-pointers","9":"tag-upsc-prelims-current-affairs","10":"tag-yak","11":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25941"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25941\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45916"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}