Meet the Yak

Meet. The. Yak. 

 

I want a Yak.  I’ve never even seen a Yak in real life. But I did read about them recently. And maybe it was just cos their name is so weirdly catchy and usual (to me) but I’m sort of obsessed. Just ask A if you don’t believe me. He told me I was weirdly focused on learning to draw them properly. I think Yak should be the new llama. 

Try Googling or using an old fashioned dictionary or encyclopedia to find out more about them. I’m going to write a few things about them but they’ll maybe be mostly opinions with a few facts thrown in. After reading about them, I couldn’t help comparing their characteristics /personality (yakonality?) traits to humans.  I know this is cliche and boring and something that has been done for years by the people who know Yaks personally. But I do really like Yaks. 

Yaks are sort of prehistoric and wild looking, but they’re basically the dramatic cool kid version of a cow.  Also, from what I read, (close your eyes for the next line, you cow lovers, you) they’re a lot nicer than cows -they’re actually useful to humans other than just for food. Usefulness is good. And: they look really cool. With their beautiful long trench coats and handle bar horns, they’re basically a dramatic fashion statement. For some reason those qualities seem to be difficult for humans to balance: being useful and looking cool at the same time. Maybe I should learn from my Yak obsession.

 

Besides being stylish and useful, Yax are super Hardy. They originated in the Himalayas and mountains are really the only place they ever want to live.  They have incredibly large lungs becos their sky-high plateau homelands generally don’t have great air quality. They don’t need a lot to eat either: about 200% less than normal cows do. They’re not high maintenance animals. While not eating a lot and living where there’s hardly any oxygen, they traditionally haul massive loads for humans over mountains and into valleys. Endurance. Stamina. Courage. Hardworkingness. Tirelessness. 

Here’s one of their bad qualities: they’re food snobs. (Like the rest of us. ) They only like grass and will NOT eat grain. So when they’re up in the clouds helping humans in some mountainous expedition how do those humans reward them for a hard day of climbing? Moss will do in a pinch. They sound kind of one tracked. Yeah. They def have the some of the same bad habits as I do. 

Let me know your opinions about Yaks. If you have any. And before you go, here’s  one more pic of a happy Yak to end this. 

Happy Yak