Yaks are animals from the bovine family which is noted for living on high altitude cold regions of the world. They bear some resemblance to the wild buffaloes with a heavy body and a long hairy tail like the horse. Yaks are widely used in the mountainous regions of the Tibet Plateau as beasts of burden and for subsistence through its milk and meat production. It is thought that there are approximately 13 million yaks on the plateaus that flank the Himalayas.

Each yak produces only about 100 gms of hair a year. The hair is either pulled or combed in the spring when the animal moults. The outer hair is separated from the inner down hair. The color of yak hair can vary from black (wild yaks) to piebald and some very rare white. The inner down hair of the one year old calf has a diameter of 15-17 microns and is 4-5 cms in length. Adult down is 18-20 microns in diameter and 3-3.5 cms in length.

The yak fibre is used locally for weaving hut coverings, blankets, mats and sacks. Strong ropes and cordage are made from the tail hair and felted fabric from the down hair. Once de-haired, the fine inner down hair can be made into yarn that is comparable to cashmere. Yak yarns are coarse and ideally suited for making warmer fabrics. Yaks are becoming extinct due to continuous human poaching through the icy mountainous ranges. More efforts should be put in to mass bred yaks so that we can still enjoy the warmth of fabrics made from their skin.