Yak Down
Yaks
The yak is a bovine closely related to cattle, though with much longer hair to insulate them from the cold. They are found on the high alpine slopes throughout the Himalayas and the Tibetan Plateau, and so have adapted to higher altitudes with larger lungs and hearts and a greater capacity for conveying oxygen through their blood. There are both wild and domesticated yaks, with the wild yaks being much bigger (the males about 2 metres tall and 1000 kgs on average) than domestic ones (males weighing between 350 and 580 kgs). They are herd animals who form groups of 10 to 30 animals, and can live for over 20 years. Yaks inhabit on treeless plateaus and mountains (usually 3000 – 5500 m above sea level), grazing on grasses, lichens and other alpine plants.
While wild yaks are hunted for food, domesticated yaks provide milk, meat, fiber (from their long hair), as well as being used to pull wagons to trade goods over mountain passes. Their dried dung is used as fuel, their milk can be processed to make cheese, butter (as well as Tibetan butter tea), and is used in lamps.
Yak down
Yaks have shaggy outer hair and dense, close, matted underhair or down to keep them insulated. In fact, they actually secrete a substance that keeps their underhair matted to keep them warm. Yaks can yield as much as 25kg of hair and down fiber. This is combed or shed from the yak. The rugged hair is used to make durable products such as ropes and rugs, while the soft down is spun into yarn. Yak down comes in a variety of earthy colours from dark brown, white, tan and grey.
Yak down produces a very soft and warm material that doesn’t itch like wool does. It is a renewable fibre unlike synthetic materials or cotton, it is machine washable, and helps preserve the traditional lifestyle of nomadic herders.
Tags: baby clothing, down baby clothes, Yak down, yak hair
This entry was posted on Friday, August 14th, 2009 at 1:47 am and is filed under Organic baby clothing, Yak down, eco-friendly clothing, organic kids clothing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.