Yak Grazing in the Lhasa Region of Tibet (image)

Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History

Caption

Large grazing animals have a strong selective force on plants, certain plants have evolved traits to thrive on pastoral landscapes. Spengler and Mueller theorize that yak herding may have helped drive buckwheat domestication in the southern Himalaya. This lone yak in the Lhasa region of Tibet is a significant evolutionary force on the plant communities around where it grazes.

Credit

Robert Spengler

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