REPORT OF THE ROYAL COMMISSION 



live in the Adirondacks and cannot live in the Catskills of southern New York, 

 many have wondered, but nobody knows. There have been only very few 

 cases of the moose breeding outside of its own natural haunts, and I regard those 

 as truly exceptional occurrences. 



I sincerely hope that the musk-ox experiment will be made, and if it is, 

 the Canadian Government may rest assured that all zoologists will be keenly 

 interested, and will wish it a full measure of success. 



I do not believe that musk-ox wool ever can become a valuable commercial 

 product. I think there is no practical way in w^hich the wool can be made 

 available in commercial quantities. We once combed the wool completely out 

 of a two-year-old musk-ox at a time when it had been shed and was ready to 

 work out through the long hair. It is a long and tedious operation, and about 

 one month later that particular musk-ox died of pneumonia. We never again 

 attempted an experiment of that kind. 



In my opinion, the musk-ox would be valuable only as a domesticated food 

 animal, but that factor alone would amply justify the domestication of the 

 species. 



There are many things which might be said about musk-ox temper and 

 temperament, but it is unnecessary to enter upon that here. 



Concerning caribou, I believe that it would be inadvisable to attempt to 

 domesticate the Barren Ground species. It is the view of the biologist and 

 stockbreeder that it takes many generations really to domesticate a wild species, 

 so that it ceases to be wild, and takes kindly to captivity, generation after gener- 

 ation. Many generations of reindeer-breeding have produced that temperament 

 in the reindeer, and that is an asset which it is well worth while to emphasize. 

 It is my recommendation that instead of attempting to domesticate the Barren 

 Ground caribou, it would be wiser to introduce reindeer. There is every reason 

 to suppose that reindeer can live and thrive wherever caribou can live, and now, 

 in view of the reindeer breeding in Alaska, it will be a comparatively easy matter 

 to secure not only breeding stock, but also natives who know how to handle it, 

 and to instruct other parties in its care. 



(Sgd.) W. T. HORNADAY. 



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