Yaks are one of the most important domestic animals found in Tibetan rangelands.
Yaks provide milk and milk products, meat, fibre, and hides.
They are also used for draught and riding and their dung is an important source of fuel in an area where firewood is not available. Without the yak it is doubtful if nomads could live as well as they do in the highlands of Tibet. The yak, in many ways, defines nomadic pastoralism across most of Tibet and makes life possible for man in one of the world s harshest environments. Tibetan nomad woman milking a yak, near Xiahe, Gansu Province. Chinese scholars claim yak husbandry is about 4,000 years old.