Yak

Yak

Description

A bovine animal, Bos grunniens, native to the high plateaus and mountains of central Asia. The yak is covered the long, coarse guard hairs over a downy undercoat of fibers. The coarse fibers are used locally for carpets, blankets, sweaters, and outerwear. The fine down is similar to cashmere and is used for cloth and yarn.

Synonyms and Related Terms

Bos grunniens; Yak (Deut., Esp., Fr., ); Jak (Deut., Ned., Pol., Sven.); yack (Fr.);

Yak down

Other Properties

Fiber length = 16 mm (coarse, 7 mm (undercoat)

Medulla is narrow and difficult to see.

Cross section is circular to ovoid

Color = dark brown to black

Additional Information

The Textile Institute, Identification of Textile Materials. Manchester England, 1985.

Authority

• Identification of Textile Materials, The Textile Institute, Manchester, England, 1985

• Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, at http://www.wikipedia.com Comment: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yak (Accessed Nov. 29, 2005)

• Random House, Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language, Grammercy Book, New York, 1997

• The American Heritage Dictionary or Encarta, via Microsoft Bookshelf 98, Microsoft Corp., 1998