3 i6 THE ANIMALS OF ARCTIC AMERICA AND CANADA 



Unlike the reindeer, the musk-ox (Ovibos moschatus), which takes 



Musk -Ox 



the first half of its name from its musky smell, is no longer represented 

 in the Old World. Although called the musk-ox, this animal has no intimate 

 connection with the true oxen, nor, for that matter, with the sheep. Standing about 

 40 inches at the shoulder, it is a very short-tailed and broad-headed animal, with 

 small pointed ears and a long shaggy coat of a woolly nature. The profile of the 

 face is decidedly sheep-like, but the broad muzzle is hairy. In old bulls the 

 peculiarly bent and fibrous horns are very broad and flat at the bases, where they 

 almost meet on the forehead. Below this they curve at first downwards, then 

 sharply forwards and upwards, tapering gradually throughout their length until 

 the twisted tips terminate in front of the eyes. At the base they are yellowish 

 brown and very rough, becoming gradually smoother and darker until at the 

 points they are quite black. In the cows and young bulls, the horns are much 

 smaller and widely separated at the bases. The legs are short and sturdy, the 

 feet being particularly worthy of notice, as the outer half of the hoof is rounded 

 and the inner half pointed, while between the two hoofs a growth of hair prevents 

 the foot slipping on the ice. The coat of the musk-ox is very thick, and causes 

 the animal to appear larger than is really the case. The dark brown hair — which 

 is lighter in the spring — is long and close, curly and matted on the back, straight 

 on the throat and sides, and hanging half-way down the legs ; the paler under- 

 fur is soft and woolly, and the two coats afford an efficient protection against the 

 bitter winter cold of the home of this Arctic ruminant, where even in summer the 

 ground hardly thaws on the surface. The typical race inhabits the mainland 

 between 60° and 80° N. latitude, as far east as the Mackenzie River. Greenland 

 is the home of a second race of the species (0. moschatus wardi), distinguished 

 by the partially white face and the narrower horns of the bulls ; and other races 

 have been named. In past times the musk-ox inhabited the greater portion 

 of North America and northern Asia, as well as Europe as far south as the Alps 

 and the Pyrenees ; but as the climate became milder it seems to have withdrawn 

 to the north, although it is difficult to account for its total disappearance from 

 Europe and Asia. At any rate, it is evident that cold is necessary to its existence, 

 for it does not migrate in winter towards the south, and it has been met with in 

 Grinnell-land in 83° N. latitude in the month of March, when the cold is most 

 severe and the snow deepest, while it lives in Greenland the whole year round. 

 These animals know well how to protect themselves from the cold by huddling 

 together ; and this herding in masses is also advantageous to them when attacked 

 by their one savage enemy, the northern wolf, at whose approach they betake 

 themselves to the nearest elevated spot, where, with their heads turned towards 

 the foe, they form a single line, which instantly becomes a ring should the attack 

 be delivered on several sides at once. Of late years a considerable number of the 

 calves of the Greenland race have been brought alive to Europe, 

 other Arctic Another type of mammal characteristic of Arctic America is the 



Mammals, polar hare (Lepus arcticus), of which several local races extending as 

 far south as Nova Scotia are recognised. On account of its more protruding 

 incisor teeth and certain peculiarities in the skull, the Greenland hare has been 

 referred to a distinct genus, under the name of Boreolepus groenlandicus. The 



