Musk-oxen are stocky,
shaggy, long-haired
mammals of the extreme northern
latitudes. They remain in the open througout
Alaska's long winters. Their name is misleading, for they have no real
musk (chemically produced by a
gland), and more closely relate to
sheep and
goats than to
cows. They (both
sexes) have
horns that droop down from their forehead and curve back at the tips. Their soft
underhair is called
qiviut and grows next to the skin, protected by long guard hairs. It is shed naturally every
spring.
There is a Musk Oxen Development
Corporation, based out of
Fairbanks, AK, that is in charge of maintaining the five herds presently at large in
Alaska. The Corporation gathers qiviut from the
Palmer, AK farm herd, and sells it to the
Oomingmak cooperative, a group that spins the hair into yarn (in
Rhode Island!), and sends it back to Alaska for village
knitters, where it is made into
clothing.
Adult
males are 500-900 lbs.
Adult
females are 300-700 lbs.
When they are threatened by
wolves or other
predators, musk oxen form
circles or lines with their
young in the middle. These
defensive measures have never protected them from their greatest threat...
Man and his
Gun.
Tragically, Musk Oxen were eliminated from Alaska in about
1864, when hunters shot and killed the last herd of 13. The species was reintroduced to the territory in the
1930s when 34 Musk Oxen were purchased from
Greenland and brought to the
University of Alaska Fairbanks. In 1935-36, the 31 remaining Musk Oxen at the university were shipped to
Nunivak Island in the
Bering Sea, where the herd eventually thrived. Animals from the Nunivak herd have been transplanted to areas along Alaska's western and northern coasts; at least five wild herds, approximately 3000 Musk Oxen, exist in Alaska at present.