View source for Dzo

{{Short description|Hybrid between the yak and domestic cattle}}
{{Redirect|zho|the [[ISO 639-3]] language code|Chinese language}}
{{For|DZO, the jargon term used in physics and chemistry|Depleted zinc oxide}}
{{Hybridbox
| name = Dzo
| image = Zokyo loaded with bags.jpg
| image_caption = A dzo acting as a [[pack animal]] en route to [[Mount Everest]]
| status = DOM
| genus = Bos
| species1 = grunniens
| link1 = Yak
| species2 = taurus
| link2 = Cattle
}}

A '''dzo''' ({{langx|bo|མཛོ་|mdzo}}) is a [[Hybrid (biology)|hybrid]] between the [[yak]] and the domestic [[cattle|cow]]. The word ''dzo'' technically refers to a male hybrid, while a female is known as a {{transliteration|bo|dzomo}} or {{transliteration|bo|zhom}}. In [[Mongolian language|Mongolian]], it is called a '''{{transliteration|mn|khainag}}''' (хайнаг). There is also the [[English language|English]] [[wikt:Portmanteau word|portmanteau term]] of '''yattle'''—a combination of the words ''yak'' and ''cattle'',<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/10/AR2007081002119.html |title=Yattle What? |last=Mummolo |first=Jonathan |date=August 11, 2007 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |access-date=January 3, 2017 |quote=Mentzer, who grew up farming in Loudoun County, and his partner, Jim Dumbrell, a retired British oil and gas pipeline consultant, are breeding yattle -- a cross between cows and yaks.}}</ref> as well as '''yakow'''<ref>{{cite book |author=National Research Council |author-link=National Research Council (United States) |date=1983 |title=Little-Known Asian Animals With a Promising Economic Future |url=https://www.nap.edu/catalog/19514/little-known-asian-animals-with-a-promising-economic-future |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=The National Academies Press |page=34 |doi= 10.17226/19514 |isbn=978-0-309-32715-2 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Mason |first=Ian |editor-last=Porter |editor-first=Valerie |date=March 2002 |title=Mason's World Dictionary of Livestock Breeds, Types and Varieties |url=http://www.cabi.org/bookshop/book/9780851994307 |location=West Sussex |publisher=[[CABI (organisation)|CABI]] |page=122 |isbn=085199430X |access-date=2017-01-03 |archive-date=2017-12-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171223215801/https://www.cabi.org/bookshop/book/9780851994307 |url-status=dead }}</ref>—a combination of the words ''yak'' and ''cow''.

Dzomo are [[fertility|fertile]] (or [[fecundity|fecund]]), while dzo are [[Sterility (physiology)|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.<ref>{{cite book|author1=David B. Madsen|author2=Fa-Hu Chen|authorlink2=Chen Fahu|author3=Xing Gao|title=Late Quaternary Climate Change and Human Adaptation in Arid China|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ar8gTSpyK8sC|date=3 July 2007|publisher=Elsevier|isbn=978-0-444-52962-6|page=207}}</ref> In [[Mongolia]] and [[Tibet]], khainags are thought to be more productive than cattle or yaks in terms of both milk and meat production.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.fao.org/AG/AGAInfo/programmes/en/genetics/documents/Interlaken/countryreports/Mongolia.pdf |title=Bataagiin Bynie: ''Mongolia: The Country Refort (sic!) On Animal Genetic Resources'', Ulaanbaatar 2002, p. 11 |access-date=2008-04-28 |archive-date=2015-09-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924011424/http://www.fao.org/AG/AGAInfo/programmes/en/genetics/documents/Interlaken/countryreports/Mongolia.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="son">{{cite book |last=Tsering |first=Diki |title=Dalai Lama, My Son |year=2002 |publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=0-7865-2260-7}}</ref>

Dzomo can be [[backcrossing|back crossed]]. As a result, many supposedly pure yak or pure cattle probably carry each other's genetic material. In Mongolia, the result of a {{transliteration|mn|khainag}} crossed with either a domestic bull or yak bull is called {{transliteration|mn|ortoom}} (ортоом, three-quarter-bred) and an {{transliteration|mn|ortoom}} crossed with a domestic bull or yak bull results in a {{transliteration|mn|usan güzee}} (усан гүзээ, one-eighth-bred).<ref name="son"/><ref>Takase Hisabumi, Kh. Tumennasan et al., [http://ci.nii.ac.jp/naid/110004313817/en "Fertility Investigation in F1 Hybrid and Backcross Progeny of Cattle (''Bos taurus'') and Yak (''Bos 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.</ref>

Dzos inherit two distinct protein types, one from each parent, leading to alterations in their mitochondrial structure and function.<ref>Long, L., Zhu, Y., Li, Z., Zhang, H., Liu, L., & Bai, J. (2020). Differential expression of skeletal muscle mitochondrial proteins in yak, dzo, and cattle: a proteomics-based study. The Journal of veterinary medical science, 82(8), 1178–1186. https://doi.org/10.1292/jvms.19-0218</ref>  Consequently, this adaptation significantly enhances the dzo's capacity to thrive at higher altitudes compared to either parent.

== Scrabble ==
The word "dzo" can also be spelt "zho" or "zo". Especially in the zo spelling it is an extremely useful word in [[Scrabble]].

==See also==
* [[Bovid hybrid]]
* [[Yakalo]], a yak-buffalo hybrid

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{Commons category-inline|Dzo}}
* dictionary.com
* {{Wiktionary-inline}}

{{Mammal hybrids}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q1269532}}

[[Category:Bovid hybrids]]
[[Category:Yaks]]

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