Musk Ox

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iMusk ox

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Artiodactyla
Family:	Bovidae
Subfamily:	Caprinae
Genus:	Ovibos Blainville, 1816
Species:	O. moschatus

Binomial name

Ovibos moschatus
(Zimmermann, 1780)

The musk ox (Ovibos moschatus) is an arctic mammal of the Bovidae family, noted for its thick coat and for the male's strong odor, hence the name.

1 Physical characteristics
2 Habitat and range
3 Trivia
4 References
5 External links
6 Literature, references

[edit] Physical characteristics

It belongs to the Caprinae subfamily, being more closely related to goats than to oxen, but is in its own genus, Ovibos. Both sexes have long curved horns. Musk oxen are usually around 2.5 m (8.2 ft) long and 1.4 m (4.6) high at the shoulder. Adults usually weigh at least 200 kg (440 lb) and can exceed 400 kg (880 lb). Their coat, a mix of black, gray, and brown, includes long guard hairs that reach almost to the ground.

During the summer, musk oxen live in wet areas, such as river valleys, moving to higher elevations in the winter to avoid deep snow. They graze on grasses, reeds, sedges, and other ground plants, digging through snow in the winter to reach their food.

Musk oxen are social and live in herds, usually of around 10–20 animals, but sometimes over 400. Winter herds consist of adults of both sexes as well as young animals. During the mating season, which peaks in mid-August, males compete for dominance, and one dominant bull drives other adult males out of the group. Non-breeding males will often form male only herds of 3-10 or wander the tundra alone. During this period all males are extremely aggressive. They often show their displeasure by rubbing glands under their eyes "to see red". Bulls will even charge birds if they are close by.

Females are sexually mature at two years of age, and males reach sexual maturity after five years. The gestation period is eight or nine months. Almost all pregnancies yield single calves. The young nurse for a year, but may start to eat grasses as soon as a week after birth.

A molting musk ox

Musk oxen have a distinctive defensive behavior: when the herd is threatened, the bulls and cows will face outward to form a stationary ring around the calves. This is an effective defense against predators such as wolves, but makes them an easy target for human hunters.

Musk ox wool, or qiviut (an Inuit word), is highly prized for its softness, length, and insulative value.

The species has existed since the last ice age, rubbing shoulders with woolly mammoths.

[edit] Habitat and range

Musk oxen are native to the Arctic areas of Canada, Greenland, and Alaska. The Alaska population was wiped out in the late nineteenth or early twentieth century, but Musk oxen have since been reintroduced to Alaska. The species has also been reintroduced from Banks Island to northern Europe, including Sweden, the Dovre region of Norway, and Russia and from Ellesmere island to Eastern Canada, in the province of Quebec. Musk oxen were close to extinction at one point, but have recovered after being protected from hunting. The world population (as of 1999) is estimated at between 65,000 and 85,000, with two thirds living on Banks Island. It is increasing, especially in the areas where the animal was introduced in the 20th century.

[edit] Trivia

U.S President Richard Nixon sent the Chinese government a pair of muskoxen as a gift in 1972, after China sent the pandas Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing to America.
The Norwegian municipality of Dovre has a musk ox in its coat-of-arms.