Yaks Diet

Predominantly located in the mountains of China, India and Nepal, the yak is an herbivore, and often travels large distances in search of food. Yaks regurgitate their food, and digest it again afterwards.

  1. Types

    • Yaks are herbivores, meaning they exclusively eat plants as a source of food. Common staples of the diet include grass, shrub leaves, tubers, mosses and lichens.

    Travel

    • As a result of the lack of vegetation available, yaks travel a great deal to find food. Typically beginning in July, yaks move from high altitudes to lower ones. Their diet therefore changes to incorporate more vegetation found in swamps, especially moss. While yaks can survive exceptionally cold temperatures, they cannot stand warm climates, and they travel back to higher altitudes in August, thus changing their diets back to leaves, grasses and shrubs.

    Ruminants

    • Yaks are known as ruminant animals; related to cows, they have four stomachs. They swallow their food without chewing it. They then regurgitate the partly digested food, which is called cud, chew it and swallow it again. Their food is then digested through the four-part stomach.