THE KETURN OF THE MUSK OX 



By Staklky P. Younq 

 Senior Biologist, Fish and Wildlife Service, V. 8. Department of the Interior 



[With 6 plates] 



The musk ox, one of the most interesting mammals of the bleak 

 Arctic, has returned to Alaska, and while little is known of its disap- 

 pearance from that region more than a century ago, its return is boldly 

 written in what is perhaps the most dramatic chapter in the annals of 

 big-game conservation. Indeed, this remarkable undertaking of rein- 

 troducing a game animal into its ancient habitat has few parallels in 

 conservation history. 



To reestablish their kind in our northern territory, the m.usk oxen 

 were transported by boat and by railway a distance of approximately 

 14,000 miles, the longest and most hazardous journey in the historj^ of 

 transplanting any mammal for restocking purposes. Captured in 

 Greenland, the animals were shipped by boat to Bergen, Norway, and 

 then to New York City. There they were crated and sent to Seattle, 

 Wash., on express railway cars, to be loaded again aboard a boat for 

 Alaska. More than 2 months were required to move the animals from 

 Greenland to Fairbanks. Despite this record-breaking journey, the 

 herd, consisting of 34 animals — 15 males and 19 females — arrived at 

 its destination in splendid condition. 



This was in 1930. Nine years later, in 1939, when the herd was last 

 counted on Nunivak Island, where it was released, it numbered 60. 

 Biologists have full faith that the animals will continue to increase 

 and in time be of sufficient number to permit restocking of other areas 

 in Alaska. 



But before reviewing this amazing undertaking, it may be well to 

 consider the musk ox and its bleak habitat. The term "Arctic," to a 

 great many people, suggests a desolate, ice-bound land — or water — 

 where little life is supported. However true this may at first appear, 

 there is error in such thinking. In our so-called Arctic wastes may be 

 found a profusion of bird and mammal life in season, such as many 



^ Reprinted by permission from American Forests, August 1941. 



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