318 ANNUAL REPORT S]SnTHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1942 



species of migratory waterfowl, fur bearers, Arctic hares, lemmings, 

 caribou, wolves, and musk oxen. 



The greatest concentration of wildlife in the so-called Arctic wastes 

 is to be found during the late spring and summer months, following 

 which nearly all the mammals either hibernate or, along with the birds, 

 migrate to a more suitable winter habitat. Of the mammals which 

 neither hibernate nor to any great extent migrate from this chosen 

 Arctic home, the musk ox is capable of contending with some of the 

 bleakest habitats found anywhere. 



This picturesque mammal was first discovered in North America by 

 intrepid northern explorers and traders near the close of the seven- 

 teenth century. Although, as may be conjectured, the musk ox is 

 related to wild and domestic cattle, it is generally smaller than most 

 breeds, though some of the old animals have weighed 900 pounds. From 

 the tip of its nose to the end of its short ratlike tail, the musk ox is 

 nearly 8 feet long. As with most mammals of the cattle type, the 

 adult bull is larger than the female. The young, one baby calf, is gen- 

 erally born in April or in early May, and this calf is reared in the 

 valleys of the Arctic hills, mountains, and tundra flats. Here a pro- 

 fusion of sedges, grasses, and shrubs blossom in the fast-growing short 

 spring and summer, and from these the herds with the young take their 

 subsistence. These herds are generally small, averaging from 5 to 12 

 animals. 



Arctic summers usually disappear with great suddenness, leaving 

 little semblance of an autumn, and early snows cover much of the 

 musk ox's food. With this quick disappearance of fresh grasses the 

 mammal turns to dwarf willows, saxifrage, and other herbaceous 

 plants and grasses which it obtains by pawing through the snow with 

 its broad hoof. 



Two of the natural enemies of the musk ox have been the Arctic wolf 

 and the isolated tribes of primitive man, such as the Eskimo and the 

 Indian. Against these enemies this interesting and formidable appear- 

 ing Arctic creature held its own in fair numbers. The modern firearm, 

 however, coupled with predation and the take by the northernmost 

 tribes, spelled its doom. 



Originally, musk oxen occurred from Alaska eastward to and in- 

 cluding Ellesmere Island. Crossing Baffin Bay, and still eastward, 

 it was again encountered in the coastal fringes of Greenland. Adol- 

 phus W. Greely, leader of the famous Greely Arctic Expedition in 

 the early eighties, found the animal near old Fort Conger, approxi- 

 mately 1,100 miles north of the Arctic Circle, on Ellesmere Island, 

 and points westward. Greely's men captured calves and attempted 

 to tame them, with the result that some became docile and tractable 

 even to the extent of hauling in teams. The chief difficulty was to 

 keep the sledge dogs of the expedition from killing them. 



