Dzo

Dzo
A dzo acting as a pack animal en route to Mount Everest
Conservation status
Domesticated
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Artiodactyla
Family:	Bovidae
Genus:	Bos
Species:	Bos grunniens × Bos primigenius
Binomial name
none

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]

Scrabble

The spelling ZO is particularly important in Scrabble as it is an easy way to use a Z tile, and can create a high score when placed on a triple letter or word score, especially when forming vertical and horizontal words simultaneously which results in a score of more than 60. (The word ZA - slang for 'pizza' - has the same properties.) ZO can subsequently be extended to DZO, ZOS, or other words such as ZOA.

See also

• Bovid hybrid
• Yakalo

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. 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

External links