Part 3 Yak in Nontraditional Environments

Information is presented here on yak kept commercially in around 90 herds in the USA and Canada with a total of perhaps 2000 animals (pure and hybrid). Yak are also found in small commercial herds in parts of Europe and in New Zealand. In addition, there are a significant number of zoos and wild animal parks in several parts of the world that have, or have had, collections of yak, many of them successfully self-reproducing herds. The common factor for all of these yak is that they are in climatic and management situations which are quite atypical of those in the traditional yak-keeping territories. The successful survival and reproduction of the yak in these nontraditional environments is, therefore, of wider interest for the potential adaptation of yak to a variety of conditions worldwide.