In 15th century, Saint Drukpa Kuenley, popularly known as " the Divine Madman", went to attend a large congregation of devotees gathered from around the country to recieve a blessing from another Saint. A group of people mockingly demanded to see his magical power. The saint, in his usual unorthodox and outrageous way, demanded that he first be served a whole cow and a goat for lunch. He devoured these with relish and left only the bones. He then took the goat's head and stuck it onto the bones of the cow. And then with a snap of his fingers he commanded the strange beast to rise up and graze on the mountainside. To the astonishment of the people, the animal arose and ran up to the meadows to graze. This animal came to be known as the Dyiong-gyem tsi (takin) and was later selected as the national animal based on both its uniqueness and its strong association religious history and myth.

The takin continues to befuddle taxonomists, who cannot quite relate it to any other animal. Some call as 'beestung moose', referring to its humped nose and similarity in size to the North American moose. Taxonomists have now put it into a class by itself, Bu-dorcas taxicolor.

In summer, takins graze in sub alpine forests and meadows above 3700m. By migrating they escape the leeches, mosquitoes, horseflies, and other parasites of the monsoon swept lower valleys.
They mate in the summer and the gestation period is between seven - eight months. The young born, usually a single calf are born between December and February. They are black in contrast to the golden yellow and brownish coat of the adults.
Around autumn the make descent to the lower valleys. They do this in stages, grazing as they descend. They arrive at the winter grazing grounds in temperate broadleaf forests between 2000m and 3000m by late October.

Hunting is banned by law, and poaching is limited since there is no high economic value placed on the body parts of the takin. In traditional medicine, however, the horn of the takin, consumed in minute amounts, is supposed to help women during a difficult childbirth.

The major threats that the takin faces are competition with domestic yaks for food in the alpine regions and loss of habitat in the temperate regions.