A
Day in the Life of a Yak!!!
Well,
let's see...Northward, the ridge opens out in a pine pasture at 12,000
feet where a herd of yaks, like so many black rocks, lies grouped in the
cold sun. The yak has been domesticated from wild herds that still occur
in remote parts of Tibet. The female yak is called the bri, and her bushy-tailed,
short-faced calf looks like a huge toy. Among these yaks are some yak-cattle
hybrids, known as dzo. On the shaggy coats, the long hairs shine, stirred
by the wind; one chews slow cud. Manure smells and finches twitter, blue
sky and snow: facing the cold wind from the south, the great animals gaze
down across the cliff to where the Bauli Gad, descending from Hoksumdo,
explodes from its narrow chute into two, then three broad waterfalls that
gather again at the Murwa stream below.
Pretty
impressive, huh? Well, that's about as good as it gets. Aside from eating,
going to the bathroom wherever they please, having little yak-lets and
decomposing into useful fossil fuels, they don't do a whole lot. Except
look like yaks, and I love yaks. Who couldn't?
