Yak is the most adaptable species of cattle to adapt to the alpine climate and continue to this day, is a rare livestock breed resources, mainly growing at an altitude of 3000-6000 meters, the natural conditions are extremely harsh in high mountains, plateau areas. The total number of yaks in the world is about 15 million, distributed in China, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Sikkim, Russia, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan, Mongolia and other countries. Among them, China has more than 14 million yaks, accounting for more than 92% of the total number of yaks in the world, and is the country with the largest number of yaks in the world, mainly distributed in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and surrounding areas.
Yak is the only dominant cattle breed and unique genetic resources that can make full use of the grassland resources of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. It has become an irreplaceable means of production and living in plateau areas with its good adaptability to harsh conditions such as cold, lack of oxygen and lack of grass at high altitudes, and can provide milk, meat, wool, velvet, leather, service, fuel and other production and daily necessities, and has an irreplaceable ecological, social and economic status in alpine pastoral areas.
The natural distribution area of yak in China is mainly a Tibetan ethnic concentration area. In the long history and splendid culture of the Tibetan people, traces of yaks can be seen everywhere, so Tibetans are also known as "people on the back of yaks". Yak is one of the earliest domesticated livestock of the Tibetan ancestors, and it has an irreplaceable importance for Tibetans who have inherited a nomadic life for generations. Yaks provide the Tibetan people with the necessary sources of information for production and life, and are the source of life and strength for the Tibetan people to survive tenaciously on the roof of the world. The yak is a symbol of tibetan animal husbandry and has an extremely close relationship with the production, life, culture and religion of the Tibetan people.