Talk:Muskox

Untitled
AFAIK, the musk ox is a bovid, but not a bovine, being related to the caprines instead. Does anyone confirm? RodC 16:40, 28 Feb 2004 (UTC)

--- Yes, of course. It was there already. Corrected. RodC

Length height
The article gives varying length/height values: 2/1 versus 2.5/1.5. Which is correct? --chad 07:03, 20 December 2005 (UTC) A musk-ox stands at about the shoulders of a average 5'10" man and are longer then he can strech his arms and big bulls can weight 900lbs. Even when they get big like that the do not get any taller just wider. MK

''The musk ox gives highly nutritous milk, producing only 4 ounces a day. These animals do not make good pets due to their aggressive behavior. they have changed little since the ice age, and were here alongside the whooly mammoth. Also, they should not be shaves as they have 2 inportant types of hair; the inner hair is called quiviut, and is highly sought because it is solft and very warm. In the wild, the muskoxen shed the hair and it can be found on branches and on the ground. In a farm setting they need to be combed, but they will lose the quiviut on their own, called molting. The outer hair is the guard hair and does not molt; this hair need to to stay in place year round as protection. Guard hair is very long, often touching the ground.

Maturity
Female musk oxen reach sexual maturity at 2 years of age and males at 5 years old.

Wrong!
The the endangered or whatever picture below the picture of the muskox should not be low risk, it should be endangered! Because poachers are hunting them for their horns! Please correct that.
 * Well the IUCN says that are are not endangered. You need to provide sources. I've lived in the arctic for over 30 years and I know of only one occassion where a muskox was shot for the horns. I've never heard of poachers hunting them. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 15:44, 23 May 2007 (UTC)
 * In 2005 there were several muskoxen killed up here in Alaska by poachers in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. People were really upset. The Anchorage Daily News reported on it; however, muskoxen are no longer endangered. They've been reintroduced to much of their former range and are being raised commercially on three farms plus some experiment farms. They're actually doing pretty well. Deirdre 22:15, 23 May 2007 (UTC)
 * My understanding is that they are one of the few creatures to make a come back from being almost extinct. If true it might make and interesting addition to the article. I do know that several years ago there were none hunted at all but now Ulukhaktok, Northwest Territories has over a 100 tags. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 05:24, 24 May 2007 (UTC)
 * Whether a species are threatened or endangered is not up to if a species is hunted or not. Or whether they are hunted as trophies (which I personally condemn) or to be used as food (which I find positive – but muskoxen is dog food, I’ve tried!) as long as the hunting is controlled and practiced in a sustainable manner.  Let’s stick to the IUCN definition:  LR/lc – That is: Lower risk (of least concern).  So it is NOT threatened at all.  (see http://www.iucnredlist.org)
 * Carl S. Bj 11:51, 20 June 2007 (UTC)


 * In Nunavut and the NWT of Canada even if the muskox is hunted a trophy the meat is still retained for elders in the community. Of course that doesn't apply to poaching them. If you feel that they taste like dog food then it's not being cooked correctly. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 14:14, 20 June 2007 (UTC)

It's Muskox, not Musk ox
According to Jan Rowell, a scientist at the Large Animal Research Station, at the third international conference on muskoxen (in 1987), the common name was agreed on by the attending scientists as muskox (pl. muskoxen), basically because the animal is not an ox. It's in its own subfamily and most closely related to wild goats, apparently. This also makes more sense grammatically. So I recommend that this article be moved to Muskox; however, I don't want to just go do it without discussion first. Deirdre 23:00, 31 October 2006 (UTC)
 * Well according to the link on the article page that is correct. A look at IUCN Red List gives both. But I have no objection to the move. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 04:53, 2 November 2006 (UTC)
 * Okay, it's been a while; I'm going ahead with the move. Deirdre 19:01, 9 November 2006 (UTC)
 * Well, it won't let me, so now I have to figure out how to get it moved...Deirdre 19:12, 14 November 2006 (UTC)

Native only to North America?
The article says it is native to North America only, while the animal once thrived in Europe as well as Russia. Is there a reason for this (eg they now living animals all are descendants of those from NA)?
 * They were widespread throughout the Arctic, and the ones in Alaska are descended from muskoxen in Canada and Greenland. I'm not sure about whether they were extinct in Siberia--don't think so. Deirdre 19:30, 14 November 2006 (UTC)

If we dont't bother with the interglacials, muskoxen is not native to Eurasia. It lived there before the last glaciation, fossils shows, but that's hardly relevant by my opinion. Carl S. Bj 11:30, 20 June 2007 (UTC)

How closely / distantly related are the Himalayan Takin? 202.138.52.64 (talk) 06:33, 21 October 2008 (UTC) Ian Ison
 * Well the Takin article leads to Convergent evolution which suggests that they would have unrelated lineages. They are both related to sheep/goats. The question would be better put at Reference desk/Science. CambridgeBayWeather Have a gorilla 09:55, 21 October 2008 (UTC)

Range
The range picture that's been added to this article appears not to be consistent with the text. The way, the truth, and the light 17:25, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

I just kayaked down the Colville River on the Alaskan North Slope (north of the Brooks Range) and I saw five muskoxen just east of where the Kiligwa River enters the Colville. That is nowhere near the range indicated on your map. objetora (talk) 21:42, 26 June 2009 (UTC)

--- MAP WRONG! The introduction of muskoxen on Svalbard / Spitsbergen was no success. I worked ther three years 1986-1988, it had then already gone extinct for approx 10Y. Probably due to climate - Spitsbergen has an oceanic klimate, much warmer than its latitude should give, and episodes of thaw, rain and succeding icing of the terrain is no good for an animal adapted to the dry parts of Arctic. Carl S. Bj (talk) 13:22, 5 February 2010 (UTC)

---

I'm working about 200km south of Baker Lake in southern Nunavut at the moment, seeing herds of muskox up to 20 in number on a daily basis. Perhaps change the map... Ezkerraldean (talk) 01:27, 31 August 2011 (UTC)
 * Should it red or blue though? CambridgeBayWeather (talk) 06:44, 31 August 2011 (UTC)

---

When I was seven or eight years old (circa 2001), I saw a large group of muskoxen in northern Quebec, a few kilometres away from Kangirsuk. Although I was young, I am confident this information is correct. Perhaps I could dig up a picture to back this up. Would be interested in finding out if there are any left in northern Quebec. Nicolas Perrault (talk) 18:38, 14 October 2017 (UTC)

Ice Age Survivor and Predation
"Musk oxen (Ovibos moschatus) are considered the most "arctic" of the northern land mammals. Whereas a polar bear resembles other bears, there is really no other animal like a muskox. With impressive long, curved horns, stout body, and woolly coat, muskox are the only survivor of a group of "ice-age" oxen species from about 18,000 years ago. They are the only High Arctic mammals that seek no shelter of any kind during winter blizzards. Their thick coats (which is dark brown except for a pale cream-colored saddle) keep them warm enough so... they just stand there! Their outer coat of long guard hairs almost reach the ground and even camouflage most of their white legs underneath. Both males and females have horns which are mainly used as defense against wolves - their only natural predator.

When wolves threaten a herd, the adult musk oxen arrange themselves in a circle with their young in the middle or in a line with the young behind them. The wolves are then faced with an unbroken row of lowered heads and sharp horns. So, unless they are very quick and get a calf before the adult musk oxen are all lined up, the wolves simply just have to give up!"

Reference:

Kindly research and include these facts too in this article. Thanks

mrigthrishna (talk) 01:27, 18 August 2009 (UTC)

That it is an "Ice Age Survivor" and a "living fossil" should be in the intro itself. Predation can be a separate subheading.

mrigthrishna (talk) 01:34, 18 August 2009 (UTC)


 * If you look at the "Physical characteristics" section of the article, fourth paragraph it does discuss the circle strategy. The fifth paragraph mentions that the muskox "..migrated to North America between 200,000 and 90,000 years ago." Somewhat more than the 18,000 mention in the article. Enter CambridgeBayWeather, waits for audience applause, not a sausage 05:32, 18 August 2009 (UTC)

Musk
"...noted for its thick coat and for the strong odor emitted by males, from which its name derives. This musky odor is used to attract females during mating season."

I've read that muskoxen have no musk glands. Shouldn't this be reflected in the article? --Ifrit (talk) 09:34, 28 September 2009 (UTC)

Introduced or Reintroduced

 * "The species has also been reintroduced from Banks Island to northern Europe, including Sweden, the Dovre mountain range of Norway, and Russia"

Shouldn't this be "introduced", as the article says their native range is solely in N. America? Rojomoke (talk) 20:29, 10 September 2010 (UTC)

Muskox in Quebec
I've decided to delete the unsourced comment that muskoxen were threatened in Quebec until hunting was banned or something like that. As you can read here, muskoxen have never inhabited Quebec in the remote past, despite the habitat there being suitable, because (my guess) the Hudson Bay acted as a barrier to their expansion. A farm whith animals from Ellesmere Island was established in northern Quebec in 1967 and, when it failed to make a profit, the animals were released in the wild. Since then the muskoxen have done nothing but going up in numbers. Thus, while I don't negate the possibility that this was helped by either Quebec or Canada banning hunting (of which I personally know no evidence whatsoever) I do negate that the muskox was ever a threatened species in Quebec.--Menah the Great (talk) 12:17, 12 January 2013 (UTC)

Can someone add the spot in which muskox was introduced in northern Quebec to the range map? Besides the text, I guess these two other maps can be used as a source.--Menah the Great (talk) 18:02, 9 May 2016 (UTC)
 * There's a map in this article too. As I noted in another discussion above, for what it's worth, I saw a group of muskoxen (perhaps 20-30?) near Kangirsuk, Quebec, circa 2001. Nicolas Perrault (talk) 18:49, 14 October 2017 (UTC)
 * The map in the article you link to appears to be very inaccurate (compare, for example the range it shows in Alaska - more than half the state - to what our map shows), so I wouldn't recommend basing anything on it. WolfmanSF (talk) 19:30, 14 October 2017 (UTC)

Importance to First Peoples
I'd like to see a section on the importance of this animal to the First Peoples. Is it used for milk, meat, clothing, shelter? Thanks. I am ignorant of this topic, even though I have BeenAroundAWhile (talk) 05:11, 16 September 2017 (UTC)
 * Some relevant info is given in the Physical characteristics and Recent native range in North America sections. WolfmanSF (talk) 05:28, 16 September 2017 (UTC)

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External links modified (February 2018)
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Range map
The range attirbuted to the musk ox in this page has long been outdated or just plain wrong (underestimated in North America and Siberia, failed introduction to Svalbard shown as successful, etc).

This is an accurate range map for 2019. Photoshop wizards, please update the map.--Menah the Great (talk) 05:46, 14 April 2021 (UTC)

Wiki Education assignment: Environmental physiology
— Assignment last updated by Jessicaphillips10 (talk) 01:16, 3 October 2022 (UTC)

Introduction to Vermont
In the 1970s there was an attempt to raise muskox in Vermont. The adults did fine, but my understanding is that the young ones died of respiratory infections due, apparently, to the humidity being wrong. I saw them myself in Richmond or Huntington but can't supply a reference.Bill (talk) 23:25, 1 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Update: The person who did this was John Teal, who also worked on domesticating muskox in Alaska. He had some on his farm in Huntington Center, Vermont. Googling him will bring up some information about his work.Bill (talk) 18:36, 2 June 2024 (UTC)