1 86 



UNGULATES. 



first place, there are fourteen pairs of ribs, whereas, in all the oxen hitherto noticed, 

 the number is but thirteen ; and in this respect the yak resembles the bisons. In 

 the skull, the region between the eyes and the occiput is relatively shorter and 

 wider than in the typical oxen, and the horns are set on somewhat below the plane 

 of the extreme summit. In consequence of this, the front view of a yak's skull 

 exhibits a small prominence between the horns formed by a boss of bone at the top 

 of the occiput ; the crest or summit of the occiput itself being invisible from the 

 front, and the shape of the whole occiput forming an inverted V. The difference 

 in the shape of the occiput from that obtaining in the true oxen may be seen by 

 comparing the accompanying figure with that of the skull of the Galla ox given on 



Distribution. 



FRONT AND BACK VIEWS OF THE SKULL OF DOMESTICATED YAK. — After Rutimeyer. 



p. 173. In regard to the position of the horns and some other features of the skull, 

 the yak approximates to the bisons. 



Yak, as we have said, inhabit the plateau of Tibet, probably 



extending northwards as far as the Kuen-Luen range, while eastwards 

 they range into the Chinese province of Kansu, and westwards enter the 

 eastern portions of Ladak, especially the regions in the neighbourhood of the 

 Chang-Chenmo valley and the great Pangkong lake. The greater portion of the 

 country comprised within this extensive area is desolate and dreary in the extreme, 

 but yak confine themselves to the wildest and most inaccessible portions of these 

 regions, and are found only at great elevations, ranging in summer from about 

 fourteen thousand to upwards of twenty thousand feet, and perhaps even more, 

 above the level of the sea. They are at all times extremely impatient of heat, and 

 delight in cold. 



Writing of the yak, General Kinloch observes that, " although 



so large a beast, it thrives upon the coarsest pasturage, and its usual 

 food consists of a rough wiry grass, which grows in all the higher valleys of Tibet, 



Habits. 



