Government of Nepal
Ministry of Forests and Environment
Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation

संरक्षित क्षेत्र कार्यालयहरुको आ.ब. २०८१/८२ को योजना तर्जूमा गोष्ठी सम्पन्न । | माननीय वन तथा वातावरण मन्त्री नवल किशोर साह सुडीलाई राष्‍ट्रिय निकुञ्‍ज विभागमा स्वागत | विश्‍व सिमसार दिवस- २०२४ उद्घाटन कार्यक्रम सम्पन्न

Mammals

Bos Mutus

Wild Yak (Bos mutus,), known as Ban Chauri in Nepali belongs to family Bovidae of order Aritodactyla. Globally, the species is native to China, India and Nepal. Wild Yak lives in alpine tundra; grasslands and cold desert regions, and move seasonally, descending into lower valleys in the winter. However, current distribution range of this species is not well known. Wild Yak used to occur in northern Nepal and may still exist in the northern border neighboring Tibet. There is no information available on the population size of this species in Nepal. Wild yak was thought to be extinct until its rediscovery in the year 2014 at Limi Valley in Humla district (Acharya et al. 2015). Globally wild yak is listed as Vulnerable by IUCN Red List. While, nationally it is categorized as Data Deficient. The legal status of this species in Nepal is Protected (Appendix I) by National Park and Wildlife Conservation Act 1973. Similarly, CITES has listed wild Yak in Appendix I species.

Reference

  • Jnawali, S. R., Baral, H. S., Lee, S., Acharya, K. P., Upadhyay, G. P., Pandey, M., ... & Khatiwada, A. P. (2011). The Status of Nepal's Mammals: The National Red List Series-IUCN.
  • IUCN 2020. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2020-2. https://www.iucnredlist.org. Accessed on 10 July, 2020.
  • Acharya, R., Ghimirey, Y., Werhahn, G., Kusi, N., Adhikary, B., & Kunwar, B. (2015). Wild yak Bos mutus in Nepal: rediscovery of a flagship species. Mammalia80(5), 475-480. https://doi.org/10.1515/mammalia-2015-0066