This is Gorakshek, Nepal. This animal walking from a village here toward the base camp of Mt. Everest is a yak, a member of the bovine family, and the wild ones are listed as an internationally protected animal.

Some have been domesticated, and these high altitude yaks have strong legs that help them carry heavy loads and do farm work, making them important to the people of Nepal and Tibet, who live in cold and dangerous mountainous regions.

Learn more about Nepal → "Birth in the Himalayas: What is the current situation in "success story" Nepal?"

(Photo: Daniel Prudek / Shutterstock.com)