FEATURES OF THE BEHAVIOR OF YAKS OF THE ALTAI POPULATION ON SEASONAL PASTURES OF THE KOSH-AGACH DISTRICT OF THE ALTAI REPUBLIC

Abstract

When studying the peculiarities of the behavior of yaks of the Altai population on seasonal pastures of the high-mountainous region of the Altai Republic, constant observations of yak behavior by seasons of the year were made, and the daily activity of the herd was timed. Studies were conducted on the basis of yak breeding farms of Kosh-Agachsky district. The behavior of yaks on pastures was recorded according to the time of eating vegetation, time of movement, resting and drinking according to the method of V. Velikzhanin (1975). The obtained data indicate that in all seasons of the year, Altai yaks use the available pastures quite effectively. Thus, in winter, at air temperatures from -15 to -20°C, yaks graze for 12-14 hours (50-58% of the daily cycle). Rest periods during the daytime are short, 2-3 hours, and at night yaks rest for a longer period of time, 8-9 hours (33-37 % of the daily cycle). In the spring period, animals graze for 11-12 hours (45-50 % of the daily cycle), resting for 10 hours, watering for 0.3 hours. In the summer grazing period, on days with high temperatures, yaks graze mainly in the morning and evening hours. On hot days, yaks prefer to rest during the day and graze most of the time at night, resting for only 2-3 hours (grazing takes place from early morning to 12-13 h). On autumn pastures yaks graze mainly in the daytime - 10-11 hours (42-46 % of the daily cycle), resting for an average of 3.5 hours (14.5 % of the daily cycle). At night, grazing takes only 3-4 hours. Thus, the time spent directly on grazing averages 58.3 in spring, 60.4 in summer, 58.3 in autumn and 54.0 % of the total time spent on pastures in winter.