I've already mentioned the yak [1]. In Tibet yak butter is burnt in sacral lights, whereas in Ladakh one uses vegetable oil. I thought about the reason and guessed: There are yaks in Ladakh, but in small numbers as Ladakh is lacking the vast pastures of the Tibetan highland. We'll come back to this assumption later.
The
yak is the traditional pack, milk, wool, meat animal of the
Himalayas, and the high plains as well as parts of Sichuan, other
Chinese provinces and Myanmar. „The English word "yak" is
a loan originating from Tibetan:
གཡག་,
Wylie:
g.yag.“
[2] English uses yak for both genders whereas Tibetan and other
languages of the region have different words for bulls and cows.
We'll have to spend some time on different term, when we talk about
interbreeding. Yak in Tibetan is for the yak bull and the yak cow is
called bri. The
wild
yak
(Bos
mutus)
i is the ancestor of the domestic
yak
(Bos
grunniens)
[3]. I won't rule out that there is a place with wild yak in Ladakh,
but I would rule out that you'll get a permit to go there (remote
border district).
Yaks
are sturdy legs, have dense, long fur and are generally dark,
blackish to brown in colour. Yak bulls weigh up to 585 kg and the bri
up to 255 kg. The yak is better adapted to high altitudes as for a
larger lung capacity and the persistance of foetal hemoglobin
throughout its whole life. Its rumen is larger than that of cattle
allowing more low quality food. In lower altitudes the yak fares less
well and so cross breeding has a long history.
Let's stay a
moment at cross breeding.
Domestic cattle and yak have offsprings called dzomo or zhom (female, fertile) and dzo (male, infertile), also spelled zo, zho and dzho [2,4]. In In Mongolian it is called khainag (хайнаг)in English yattle and yakow have been used.
Domestic cattle and yak have offsprings called dzomo or zhom (female, fertile) and dzo (male, infertile), also spelled zo, zho and dzho [2,4]. In In Mongolian it is called khainag (хайнаг)in English yattle and yakow have been used.
The yakalo is a cross breeding of yak
and the American
bison
(Bison
bison)
[5]. As only female offspring is fertile, one has stopped this form
of cross breeding in 1928.
Sit still - there's more to come!
In
the Kumuan region the offspring of cow and yak are called jumo
(female,
fertile) and
jhupu (male,
infertile). The
offspring of jumo and yak is called garmo (female,
fertile) and
garu (male,
infertile). The
offspring of yak cow and cattle bull is called dumjo (female)
and
dumju (male).
The
offspring of jumo or garmo and cattle bull is called talbuni (female)
and
talbu (male).
The
offspring of talbuni and yak is called garjo
(female) and
garju (male).
[6]
Let's come now to Zanskar, which is part of Ladakh. The offspring of cow (pasi in Zanskari, balang in Ladakhi) and yak is called dzomo (female, fertile) and dzo (male, infertile). The offspring of dzomo and yak is called garmo (female, fertile) and gar or garu (male, infertile). The offspring of garmo and yak is called girmo (female, fertile) and gir (male, infertile). And there are also lokmo and lok, tsirgmo, dimo, talmo, telmo and tolfo, and longto; please look it up [7].
Let's come now to Zanskar, which is part of Ladakh. The offspring of cow (pasi in Zanskari, balang in Ladakhi) and yak is called dzomo (female, fertile) and dzo (male, infertile). The offspring of dzomo and yak is called garmo (female, fertile) and gar or garu (male, infertile). The offspring of garmo and yak is called girmo (female, fertile) and gir (male, infertile). And there are also lokmo and lok, tsirgmo, dimo, talmo, telmo and tolfo, and longto; please look it up [7].
Thank
you for not quitting!
About
the head count of yaks for Ladakh or India there isn't much data
available. R.N. Pal reports 132,000 heads for 1977 and 128,000 for
1982, "whereas the figure for 1990/91 stands at only 30,000"
[8]. These numbers are controversial and so the India Environment
Portal put these in question: "The figure stood at 130,000 in
1982, while it is currently estimated to be 30,000. But it was a
false alarm. Gupta points out that the population of the yak has
never crossed 50,000." [9] As the latest number, R.N. Pal gives
13,000 yaks for Ladakh; the article doesn't mention the exact year
for this number. Let's put these numbers into context with the
Tibetan Autonomous Region (Tibet). Han Jian-lin published 3.915.700
heads of yak for 1999 [10]. However, Ladakh occupies only an area of
59,146 sq km, whereas the
Tibetan Autonomous Region covers 1,128,400 sq km. If we want to
compare these numbers: Ladakh has 0.22 yaks per sq km, whereas Tibet
has about 3.47 yaks per sq km. This would mean that in the Tibetan
Autonomous Region (Tibet) you'll find 16 times as many yaks as in
Ladakh. So my assumption of the
number of yaks in Ladakh and the consequences were quite right.
The yaks you see here in the pictures are all from the Nubra valley as we were climbing up Khardong-la. I have seen yaks on other occassions, but the pictures aren't worth showing.
Links
and References:
[1]
https://rheumatologe.blogspot.com/2020/08/sacral-lights-in-ladakh-and-tibet.html
[2]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domestic_yak
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dzo
[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakalo
[6] Farooquee, Nehal & Majila, B. & Kala, Chandra Prakash. (2004). Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Sustainable Management of Natural Resources in a High Altitude Society in Kumaun Himalaya, India. J. Hum. Ecol. 16. 33-42. 10.1080/09709274.2004.11905713.
[7] Prem Singh Jina: High Pasturelands of Ladakh Himalaya. Indus Publishing, 1995. ved=2ahUKEwiDvpipjrTrAhXHKewKHR_MDl4Q6AEwAnoECAIQAQ#v=onepage&q=lok%20garmo%20yak&f=false
[8] http://www.fao.org/3/v0600t/v0600T0p.htm
[9] http://www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/content/14741/the-yak-in-ladakh/
[10] http://www.fao.org/3/ad347e/ad347e0n.htm
.
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