Scientists have developed health monitoring for alpine yaks

Representative image. | Photo credit: AP

A team of scientists has developed a smart Internet of Things (IoT)-based system that monitors the health of high-altitude yaks and tracks their movements near the international border in the Himalayas.

Indian goat (Bos grunniens), often called the “ship of the Himalayas”, is an integral part of the economy of the mountain people who depend on it for meat, milk and transport. Found at elevations above 8,000 feet, these cattle have long been recognized for their hardiness and adaptability to extreme conditions. According to the 20th Livestock Census, India has about 58,000 yaks, almost half of them in Ladakh. The rest are located in Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

Monitoring the health of yaks in the harsh Himalayan region was literally a daunting task. Yak specialists and brokpas (yak breeders) also face challenges due to the movement of livestock in hard-to-reach areas near international borders.

Geo-fencing and monitoring

Newly developed technology – a device attached to the animal’s collar – aims to reduce these obstacles, according to Mihir Sarkar, director of the Indian Agricultural Research Council’s National Yak Research Center (NRC-Y) in Dirang, Arunachal Pradesh.

He is one of four NRC-Y scientists – the others are Mokhtar Hussain, Vijay Paul and Dinamani Medhi – who developed the device, along with Rupesh Mandal, Nupur Choudhury, Gitu Das and Jyoti Kumar Barman of Guwahati-based Assam Don Bosco University.

The researchers said this intelligent IoT-based system for geo-fencing and monitoring the health of yaks and predicting the stress they are under is designed to address the challenges of yak management in remote, high-altitude areas where continuous physical monitoring of the animals is often difficult.

IoT is a network of physical objects with integrated sensors, software and connectivity technologies that enable gadgets and machines to collect, exchange data and act automatically without human intervention. Geo-fencing is the use of GPS, Wi-Fi or mobile data to create a virtual boundary around a physical location.

Management of the high mountain herd

“Yaks are a vital source of livelihood for communities living in the high-altitude region of the Himalayas. However, yak breeders often face challenges in tracking animal movements, detecting health problems at an early stage and managing herds spread over vast pastures, often wandering into hard-to-reach areas,” Mr Sarkar said.

“Newly developed technology can help farmers by providing timely information on animal health, stress levels and movement patterns, enabling better decision-making in day-to-day herd management and ensuring timely veterinary intervention whenever needed,” he said.

Published – 7 Jul 2026 23:15 IST