Dzo

"zho" redirects here. For the ISO 639-3 language code, see Chinese language.
For DZO, the jargon term used in physics and chemistry, see Depleted zinc oxide.
Dzo
A dzo acting as a pack animal en route to Mount Everest
Domesticated
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Bovidae
Subfamily: Bovinae
Tribe: Bovini
Genus: Bos
Species: B. grunniens × B. primigenius

A dzo (Tibetan མཛོ་ mdzo) (also spelled zo, zho and dzho) is a hybrid between the yak and domestic cattle. The word dzo technically refers to a male hybrid, while a female is known as a dzomo or zhom. In Mongolian it is called khainag (хайнаг). There is also the English language portmanteau term of yakow; a combination of the words yak and cow, though this is rarely used.

Dzomo are fertile (or, fecund) while dzo are sterile. As they are a product of the hybrid genetic phenomenon of heterosis (hybrid vigor), they are larger and stronger than yak or cattle from the region.[1] In Mongolia and Tibet, khainags are thought to be more productive than cattle or yaks in terms of both milk and meat production.[2][3]

Dzomo can be back crossed. As a result, many supposedly pure yak or pure cattle probably carry each other's genetic material. In Mongolia and Tibet, the result of a khainag crossed with either a domestic bull or yak bull is called ortoom (three-quarter-bred) and an ortoom crossed with a domestic bull or yak bull results in a usan güzee (one-eighth-bred).[3][4]

See also

References

  1. ↑ David B. Madsen; Fa-Hu Chen; Xing Gao (3 July 2007). Late Quaternary Climate Change and Human Adaptation in Arid China. Elsevier. p. 207. ISBN 978-0-444-52962-6. Retrieved 3 June 2012.
  2. ↑ Bataagiin Bynie: Mongolia: The Country Refort (sic!) On Animal Genetic Resources, Ulaanbaatar 2002, p. 11
  3. 1 2 Tsering, Diki (2002). Dalai Lama, My Son. Penguin Books. ISBN 0-7865-2260-7.
  4. ↑ Takase Hisabumi, Kh. Tumennasan et al., Fertility Investigation in F1 Hybrid and Backcross Progeny of Cattle (Bos taurus) and Yak (B. gruniens) in Mongolia. : II. Little variation in gene products studied in male sterile and fertile animals, in: Niigata journal of health and welfare Vol.2, No.1, pp. 42-52
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