Domestic yak is descended from the wild yak. Fossils for both have been found that date to the Pleistocene period.
Developed over past 10,000 years on Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau ("roof of the world").
Qiang - possibly the earliest animal husbandry culture of excellence in the world.
Qiang's outstanding achievement was taming wild beasts for domestic purposes.
Sheep/goats being tamed led to taming yak, horse, and other herbivores, then to developing societies based on animal husbandry.
Domestication of yak led to progress, prosperity and economic advancement for people.
High value as beast of burden (packing), milk, hair, hides, meat, and dung (fuel in elevations above the tree line).
Eventually spread northward and southward then to other parts of the world (in small numbers).
Present-day distribution developed from these migrations.
Source: Wiener, Gerald, et al. The Yak. Second ed., FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, 2006. COVER PHOTO: JENINA WILLIAMS, EDITS BY CHELSEA SAUNDERS
