Yaks Are Returning to Tibet, but Does Climate Change Pose Further Risks?

Wild yaks are coming back to at least one area of Tibet after a long period of overhunting, but the future for the species is yet unknown as their periglacial habitat melts because of climate change.Wild yaks ( Bos mutus ) are among Asia's largest mammals, second only to elephants and rhinos, and are especially adapted to high-altitude regions. The animals were not widely hunted until 50 years ago, when Tibet became an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. The change in leadership brought an influx of Chinese settlers who hunted the yaks and took over many of their high-elevation habitats, where humans had not previously settled. The yaks were further pushed aside when pastoralists converted meadows into livestock grazing areas for domesticated yaks ( B. grunniens ), which are about half the size of their wild counterparts and can transmit diseases to wild herds. According to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species , wild yaks do not tolerate humans or domesticated animals and move away whenever their habitats are disturbed. By 1996 scientists estimated the total population of wild yaks to be fewer than 15,000 animals. [More]