👉The Food Safety and Standard Authority of India (FSSAI) has approved the Himalayan Yak as a ‘food animal’.
👉The Yak belongs to the Bovini tribe, which also includes bison, buffaloes, and cattle.
👉It can tolerate temperatures as low as-40 degrees Celsius.
👉Adapted for living at high altitudes, they have long hair that hangs off their sides like a curtain, sometimes touching the ground.
👉Yaks are highly valued by Himalayan peoples. According to Tibetan legend, the first yaks were domesticated by Tibetan Buddhism founder Guru Rinpoche.
👉They are also known as the lifeline of pastoral nomads in high altitudes of the Indian Himalayan region.
👉Yaks are traditionally reared under a transhumance system which is primitive, unorganised and full of hardship.
👉They are endemic to the Tibetan Plateau and the adjacent high-altitude regions.
👉The yak-rearing states of India are Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir.
