Musk Oxen

Ovibos moschatus, another name for Musk Oxen.

The Inpiaq speaking Eskimos of Alaska call the Musk Ox, "Oomingmak" that means "animal with skin like a beard."

These fascinating Arctic residents, Musk Oxen, also known as "The bison of the tundra" are members of the Bovidae family. Their scientific name is Ovibos moschatus, Ovibos signifying that they have features in common with both oxen and sheep, and moschatus relating to the musky odor that males in rut emit from their facial glands.

The name, Musk Oxen comes from a pair of musk glands below the eyes of the bulls. When in the defense circle or in battles between males, the bulls perfume themselves by rubbing their enormous heads against their forelegs.

Adult male Musk Ox stand about four to 4½ feet tall at the shoulders, are about 6½ to eight feet in length, and weigh about 750-800 pounds. The female Musk Oxen are smaller.

The Musk Ox appears as a small, extraordinarily shaggy buffalo. The animals live in the most rugged climate on earth, where snow storms howl and temperatures at a minus 50 degrees Fahrenheit is common. A Musk Ox's main defense against the Arctic cold is a double coat of hair.

Their outer dark brown to black coarse hair looks like a woman's long skirt as it hangs about two feet or longer from their neck, chest, sides and hind quarters. The people call the hair beneath the outer wool, qiviut ("kiv-ee-oot") that shows different tints of brown and gray.

The qiviut is finer than cashmere, and is very precious to Inuit knitters. The Inuit people make scarves, hats, vests and other items of clothing from the quiviut. The Musk Ox leads a somewhat gypsy life but does not travel far, even between their summer and winter ranges.

Each springtime the animal looses its old hair and begins to grow new hair. No other animal looks more shabby. The ox scrape the loose hair off on rocks and shrubs. The new hair protects the Musk Ox against the swarms of mosquitoes and black flies that torment caribou and elk during the Arctic summer.

No other living thing has the fortification of the Musk Oxen. When hazards endanger the oxen they do not run away. Instead, a pack of twenty to forty oxen form a circle facing toward the danger with the young oxen in the center or beneath their mother's stomach. In this position the herd can challenge their natural enemies like the Arctic wolf and the grizzly bear. Occasionally one massive bull who is exceedingly nimble will race out to do battle. After the fake attack or a definite battle the male oxen returns to his place in the circle. The horns of both sexes are pointed, powerful weapons. One single swipe of his horns can disable or destroy a wolf, dog or Eskimo hunter armed with a spear.

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