For those of you unfamiliar with the “yak” it is basically a mix between a cow and a bison. Officially, the DNA leans more to the cattle side but looking at a yak you might mistake it for a bison. But that’s neither here nor there, the real question is why is one of the largest armies in the world, The People’s Liberation Army (aka the Chinese Army), still using them?
Quite simply, the Chinese (and pretty much the rest of the world) have not found a better way of travelling the mountainous terrain. The People’s Liberation Army has a unit dedicated solely to the yak and they solely operate in Xinjiang, China. Xinjiang is primarily made up of mountains and border mountainous countries such as Afghanistan, Mongolia, and Kazakhstan. This makes it ideal territory to use a yak to get around.
Some countries, such as the US, have opted for high tech solutions that come with heavy expenses and are not nearly as effective. The yak is simple, and many farmers raise them in China for farm life as well as for food source purposes so there is plenty of supply. Not to mention, the yak also the soldiers to transport themselves and light duty equipment with ease across the mountains
Ben