The Return of the Vanishing Musk Oxen 1 



By Hartley H. T. Jackson 2 



[With two plates] 



The musk ox, one of those species which had dwindled in numbers 

 so as to be in danger of extinction, at present lives in the wild only 

 on the northeast coast of Greenland and in arctic barrens directly north 

 and northwest of Hudson Bay as far as about latitude 83°, or within 

 400 or 500 miles of the North Pole. Even within this range musk 

 oxen live only in certain areas, there being large expanses where none 

 occurs. Although today there are no native wild musk oxen west 

 of the Mackenzie Kiver, there is sufficient evidence, from parts of 

 skeletons that have been found, and from stories of the Eskimos, that 

 a few of the animals inhabited Alaska as late as about 1850. At that 

 time the species undoubtedly lived over most of arctic North America 

 and northeastern Greenland. Whereas in those days the number of 

 musk oxen in existence probably numbered in the hundreds of thou- 

 sands, now a high estimate would be 20,000 individuals, most of 

 which live on the arctic islands. 



PHYSICAL APPEARANCE 



The musk ox is an odd-looking, hoofed mammal that resembles a 

 small, shaggy-haired, miniature buffalo. It combines certain features 

 of cattle with those of the sheep, but is in no sense a connecting link 

 between them. Stocky in build and short legged, a large male measures 

 about 7 feet long, stands a little over 4 feet high at the shoulders, 

 and weighs about 550 pounds. The female is smaller. A hump on the 

 shoulders of the animal reminds one of the bison. Its tail is only 

 three or four inches long, its ears are small, and its eyes rather 

 prominent. Its head is broad and heavy ; its face wide and short. The 

 male carries thick down-curved horns, the broad flat bases of which 

 nearly meet over the forehead to form a frontal shield. The horns of 

 the female are smaller. 



1 Reprinted by permission from the Audubon Magazine, November-December 

 1956 and January-February 1957. 

 * Formerly biologist with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. 



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