How can a yak survive in cold temperatures?

Answer 1

Yaks can survive winters with temperatures reaching -40 degrees Celsius. Their hair is very thick and they secrete a sticky substance in their sweat (which is not a whole lot, since their sweat glands are few and almost non-functional) which helps to keep the under hair matted and acts as extra insulation. Yaks have a double-hair coat, with thick soft down near the skin (called "yak wool" which is actually used as wool in textiles) and longer, the much coarser hair ("guard hairs") to the outside.

Answer 2

Yaks have several adaptations that help them survive in cold temperatures. They have long, thick fur that insulates them against the cold. Additionally, they have a thick layer of subcutaneous fat that helps to keep them warm. Their lungs are also adapted to be efficient in extracting oxygen at high altitudes where temperatures are colder.

Answer 3

With a double-layered hair coat, a layer of extraneous subcutaneous fat and few almost non-functional though specialized sweat glands that produce a sticky substance to mat the undercoat, thus adding to insulation, and an overall means or goal of conserving heat rather than generating it, yaks are able to survive frigid winter temperatures in their native Tibetan mountain ranges that can see temperatures dip below -40 degrees Celsius or Fahrenheit. Cold temperatures are the yaks' specialty. They don't tolerate ambient temperatures greater than 13 degrees Celsius as far as performance and survival is concerned, because they are not adapted to such temperatures like their cousins being domestic cattle are.

However, that is not to say that yak cannot adapt to, to them, non-normal conditions. Yaks raised in North America in several part of the lower 48 states have been able to adapt to conditions that are 10 degrees warmer than their native home range in Tibet. That is, as long as they are given shelter and other means of cooling themselves should their environment get too warm for them to handle.