2015 Volume 25 Issue 2 Pages 33-41
In the cold and dry Mongolian plateau, dried livestock dung not only plays an important role as fuel but also has manifold uses in folk medicine, divination, etc. Utilization of livestock dung is part of the most important culture of the Mongolian pastoral society. Mongolian pastoralists mainly raise 5 kinds of animals as core livestock: cattle, horses, camels, sheep and goats. They have survived self-sufficiently with raising their livestock. The present study will focus on how dung of the livestock has been used by Mongolian pastoralists in their daily life and how the various names of it, over 30 totally, came into existence according to wide utilization for different purposes.
