Cow vs Yak: What's the Difference?
Yaks are close relatives of cattle and bison, adapted to high altitude. The cow can be dangerous to people; the yak isn't dangerous to people.
Common questions
Is a yak a cow?
Not exactly. The yak is a kind of domesticated cattle, but a separate species (Bos grunniens) from the cow (Bos taurus), adapted to high altitude in the Himalayas and Central Asia.
Quick answers
They differ on 1 of the 8 quick answers: dangerous.
| Question | Cow | Yak |
|---|---|---|
| What is it? | Mammal | Mammal |
| Carnivore? | No, herbivore | No, herbivore |
| Dangerous? differs | Can be | No |
| Domesticated? | Yes | Yes |
| Awake when? | Daytime | Daytime |
| Hibernates? | No | No |
| Kept as a pet? | No | No |
| Do people eat it? | Yes | Yes |
At a glance
| Question | Cow | Yak |
|---|---|---|
| Found in differs | Worldwide | Asia |
| Habitat differs | Farmland, Grassland | Mountains, Grassland |
| Size differs | Large | Huge |
| Weight differs | Hereford: cows 600–800 kg, bulls 1,000–1,200 kg | 300–1,000 kg |
| Legs | 4 | 4 |
| Covered in differs | Fur | Wool |
| Lives | In herds | In herds |
| Lives for differs | 18–22 years | 20–25 years |
| Can fly | No | No |
| Swims differs | Yes | No |
| Lays eggs | No | No |
About each
Cow
Large domesticated grazers, first tamed from the wild aurochs about 10,500 years ago. Kept for meat, milk and leather and for pulling loads, there were over 940 million cattle in the world in 2022.
Yak
Long-haired domesticated cattle of the Himalayas, the Tibetan Plateau and the mountains of Central Asia, north to Mongolia and Siberia. It is descended from the wild yak.
Sources
Last reviewed . The answers and notes come from each animal's own page, where every source is listed.
How each answer is decided: How we answer. More look-alikes: Commonly confused animals.