Yakalo facts for kids

A yakalo is a very rare animal that is a mix, or hybrid, between a male yak and a female American bison. American bison are often called buffalo in North America.

Yakalos were not found in the wild. Instead, they were created by scientists in the 1920s as part of an experiment. The project was not very successful, and it was stopped after a few years.

Parent animals

To understand the yakalo, it helps to know about its parents.

The yak (Bos grunniens) is a large animal with long, shaggy hair. It lives in the cold, high mountains of Asia, like the Himalayas. Yaks are very strong and are built to survive in harsh weather. For thousands of years, people have used domesticated yaks for their milk, meat, and as pack animals to carry heavy things.

The American bison (Bison bison) is a huge, powerful animal from North America. It is the largest land animal on the continent. Bison are famous for the large humps on their shoulders and their thick, shaggy coats. They used to live in giant herds on the Great Plains.

The Yakalo Experiments

Scientists are often curious about what happens when you mix two different species. The yakalo is one example of this kind of experiment.

Creating a Hybrid

The yakalo breeding experiments took place in the 1920s. Scientists wanted to see what kind of animal they could create by breeding a yak and a bison. They crossed male yaks with two different types of females:

• Purebred female American bison
• Female Beefalo, which are themselves a hybrid of bison and regular cattle

Why Did the Experiments Fail?

The project to create yakalos did not work out as hoped. There were two main problems that caused the scientists to stop the experiments in 1928.

First, very few of the hybrid calves survived for long after they were born. This made it very difficult to build up a population of yakalos.

Second, there was a problem with reproduction. When two different species create a hybrid, the offspring is often sterile (meaning it cannot have babies). With the yakalo, only the females were fertile (able to have babies). All the male yakalos were sterile. This is a common issue with hybrids, explained by a scientific principle called Haldane's rule.

Because of these challenges, the project was ended. Today, there are no known yakalos left in the world.

See also

• Beefalo - A hybrid of a bison and domestic cattle
• Dzo - A hybrid of a yak and domestic cattle
• Żubroń - A hybrid of a European bison and domestic cattle