Article of the month - The Yakutian cattle: a cow of the permafrost

Summary in the original language of the document

Siberia's last remaining indigenous breed of domestic cattle, the Sakha Ynaga (in Yakutian language), or Yakutan Cattle, inhabit the lands surrounding the Lena River in Russia's remote Sakha Republic (Yakutia). A Finnish multidisciplinary team of researchers from MTT Agrifood Research Finland and the University of Helsinki's Aleksanteri Institute explored the genetic uniqueness of the Yakutian cattle and the effect of social and cultural factors on the survival of the breed through periods of major upheaval in Russia's history. The findings of this study have now been published in the book Sakha Ynaga - Cattle of the Yakuts.