Wild yak (Bos mutus)

Species information

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Threats

Wild yaks are hunted commercially for their meat. Also, habitat loss brought about by pastoralists has reduced their range by more than half in the last hundred years. Interbreeding between domestic yaks and wild yaks, as well as the transmission of diseases from domestic livestock to wild yaks has also contributed to a decline in population numbers (1).

Conservation

The wild yak has been protected in China since 1962 as a Class I protected animal, but this is almost completely without enforcement in the remote areas inhabited by yaks, and commercial hunting continues. Only the very large Chang Tang Reserve in China provides real protection for the remaining wild yak. Whilst the population is less significant in India, the wild yak is also protected there under the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972 (1).