Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio. Hey Brainstuff Lauren Vogelbaum.
Speaker 1: Here For those who make the track up the peaks
Speaker 1: of the Himalayan Mountains in Central Asia, it's not uncommon
Speaker 1: to spot a yak, a herd animal that looks a
Speaker 1: bit like a large hunched cow with handlebar shaped horns
Speaker 1: wearing a shaggy shawl. These hardy, agile creatures can withstand
Speaker 1: temperatures as low as negative forty degrees, which is the
Speaker 1: same in celsius and fahrenheit, which is fun, and their
Speaker 1: impressive lung capacity allows them to breed easier than any
Speaker 1: hiker they'll encounter, even when on the job as a
Speaker 1: pack animal. Even those of us who live elsewhere and
Speaker 1: forego the climb still have plenty of yack siding possibilities.
Speaker 1: In the United States, for example, small farms in Colorado
Speaker 1: and some of the northern coastal states are raising yaks
Speaker 1: in growing numbers, increasingly popular for their easy maintenance, valuable fiber,
Speaker 1: and tasty meat and milk. Yaks are in the same
Speaker 1: genus as cattle, but they are different species, and DNA
Speaker 1: and archaeological records show that they were first domesticated from
Speaker 1: wild yaks more than two five hundred years ago in
Speaker 1: the Tibetan Plateau. Yaks are known to be friendly and
Speaker 1: even playful creatures. They aren't typically aggressive toward humans, but
Speaker 1: like most mamas, they can get pretty protective of their young.
Speaker 1: They're also easy to train, and they are good at surviving
Speaker 1: harsh elements. The herd will cuddle up together during a snowstorm,
Speaker 1: always making sure to keep the calves safe in the
Speaker 1: middle of the pack. But despite their many cowl like features,
Speaker 1: there's no mooing here. Sometimes known as the grunting ox,
Speaker 1: yaks make a low grunting noise sort of like a pig,
Speaker 1: to communicate with each other or when they get excited
Speaker 1: and want to play. Otherwise, they're relatively silent creatures. Yaks
Speaker 1: are genetically adapted to survive in altitudes up to twenty
Speaker 1: thousand feet or six thousand meters, atopping the list of
Speaker 1: high altitude mammals. Their lungs are so unusually lard that
Speaker 1: they require an extra pair of ribs. A yak has
Speaker 1: fourteen pairs of ribs instead of thirteen like a cow,
Speaker 1: just to support those lungs. That greater lung capacity, along
Speaker 1: with a greater number of red blood cells than other bovines,
Speaker 1: allows them to get enough oxygen out of the thin
Speaker 1: mountain air. Also, their poop doesn't stink. It's not that
Speaker 1: they think they're better than everyone else, but when yaks
Speaker 1: are given sufficient access to water and forage to eat,
Speaker 1: they're dung has little to no odor. That's a big
Speaker 1: perk for those collecting the dried excrement for fuel. The
Speaker 1: Tipetan plateaus don't have trees, making yak dung the only
Speaker 1: easily obtainable fuel in some areas. In fact, when it
Speaker 1: comes to providing useful food and goods, these shaggy bow
Speaker 1: vines are a bit of a yak of all trades.
Speaker 1: Their milk is used to make several types of cheese,
Speaker 1: including a dried in smoked variety that can be stored
Speaker 1: for years. But the thick, fatty butter made from yac
Speaker 1: milk is the real star. A mixed with black tea
Speaker 1: and salt, it creates pocha, sometimes known as Tibetan butter tea.
Speaker 1: This tea provides loads of vital calories in areas with
Speaker 1: sparse resources, and it's such a big part of the
Speaker 1: culture that the Dali lama drinks it daily. The locals
Speaker 1: make sure that none of the butter goes to waste,
Speaker 1: though it's also used to fuel lamps, bring shine to
Speaker 1: fur coats, and create a base for traditional butter sculptures.
Speaker 1: Yak meat has long been another important source of nutrients,
Speaker 1: and it's slowly growing in popularity around the globe. It's
Speaker 1: leaner than beef, with a similar but perhaps more mild flavor,
Speaker 1: and it's perhaps more efficient to rear yaks for meat
Speaker 1: than it is cattle. Since yaks are very efficient absorbing nutrients,
Speaker 1: they only consume a third of the food that cows do.
Speaker 1: Their wool can also be used for everything from sturdy
Speaker 1: rugs to the softest sweaters. Their coarse outer fur can
Speaker 1: be woven to make things like tents, ropes, and saddle bags.
Speaker 1: Their mid coat might go to make outerwear, but the
Speaker 1: most valuable yak fiber is their super soft undercoat. As
Speaker 1: yaks shed this ultrafine layer in the spring, it's combed
Speaker 1: out and spun to make warm, ohso soft clothing that
Speaker 1: rivals the luxury of cashmere. A vital part of Himalayan
Speaker 1: culture and economy, Yaks have earned their reputation as highly
Speaker 1: adaptable and uniquely beautiful bovines. Mongolia celebrates their beloved yaks
Speaker 1: during multiple annual yak festivals. In addition to tasting lots
Speaker 1: of yak cheeses and other local dishes, you can watch
Speaker 1: yak rodeo events, demonstrations of yak fi, yberworking, competitions for
Speaker 1: the best dressed yak, and yak racing, which apparently is
Speaker 1: the slowest event of the day, with most yaks crossing
Speaker 1: the finish line at a casual amble if they haven't
Speaker 1: gotten distracted and wandered off halfway. Today's episode is based
Speaker 1: on the article Yakta Yak seven fun Facts about Yaks
Speaker 1: on how Stuffworks dot Com, written by Katiecarmen. The brain
Speaker 1: Stuff is production of iHeartRadio in partnership with how Stuffworks
Speaker 1: dot Com and is produced by Tyler Klang. Four more
Speaker 1: podcasts from iHeartRadio. Visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows.