Animals

1. གཡག

   Yag

   Yak (male)

   Usage

   The animal Tibetan highland life rests on. Strictly it means the male only. The English "yak" comes from this word. Ask the owner before photographing one

2. འབྲི།

   Dri

   Female yak (dri)

   Usage

   The one that gives milk, from which butter tea and cheese are made. "Yak butter" is strictly a misnomer — it comes from the female

3. མཛོ།

   Dzo

   Dzo (yak-cattle hybrid)

   Usage

   A yak-cattle cross used in lower valleys, good for hauling and ploughing

4. ལུག

   Lug

   Sheep

   Usage

   No closing shad because it ends in ga. Wool and meat from sheep sustain highland life

5. ར།

   Ra

   Goat

   Usage

   A one-syllable word. Usually herded alongside sheep; the fine undercoat is what cashmere comes from

6. རྟ།

   Ta

   Horse

   Usage

   Central to nomadic life; summer grassland festivals feature horse racing

7. བོང་བུ།

   Bong bu

   Donkey

   Usage

   Used to carry loads between villages

8. རྐྱང་།

   Kyang

   Kiang (Tibetan wild ass)

   Usage

   Wild asses living in herds on the high grassland; often seen from the road. A protected species

9. གཙོད།

   Tsö

   Tibetan antelope (chiru)

   Usage

   A protected species found only on the plateau. Poaching for its fine underwool nearly wiped it out, and trade in that wool is banned

10. ཤ་བ།

    Sha wa

    Deer

    Usage

    The plateau has its own deer species, now protected as numbers have fallen

11. དོམ།

    Dom

    Bear

    Usage

    A brown bear subspecies lives on the plateau and sometimes comes down to settlements; never leave food out when camping

12. སྤྱང་ཀི

    Chang ki

    Wolf

    Usage

    Lives on the high grassland; herders keep large dogs to protect their livestock from them

13. གངས་གཟིག

    Gang zig

    Snow leopard

    Usage

    Gang (snow) plus zig (leopard). Rarely seen and strongly protected. No closing shad because it ends in ga

14. ཁྱི།

    Khyi

    Dog

    Usage

    Nomad tents have big guard dogs on chains — keep away. If a loose dog barks at you, stop walking

15. ཞི་མི།

    Zhi mi

    Cat

    Usage

    Kept in houses to keep the mice down

16. ཕག་པ།

    Phag pa

    Pig

    Usage

    Kept in lower valley villages; you will not see them on the high grazing grounds

17. རི་བོང་།

    Ri bong

    Rabbit / hare

    Usage

    Literally "mountain donkey"; seen out on the grassland

18. ཙི་ཙི།

    Tsi tsi

    Mouse / rat

    Usage

    A reduplicated name. Use it to report one at your lodging

19. བྱ།

    Ja

    Bird

    Usage

    The general word for birds, chickens included

20. བྱ་རྒོད།

    Ja gö

    Vulture

    Usage

    Seen wheeling high over the plateau. The bird carries a special significance for Tibetans, so if you come across a gathering of them, do not approach or photograph

21. ཉ།

    Nya

    Fish

    Usage

    Found in the plateau's lakes and rivers. In many parts of Tibet fish is not eaten by custom, so do not press anyone to order it

22. སྦྲུལ།

    Drul

    Snake

    Usage

    Almost absent from the high plateau but present in lower valleys

23. གྲོག་མ།

    Drog ma

    Ant

    Usage

    They gather if food is left out

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