During our own times, the Barren Ground musk-ox has been completely exterminated throughout the region west of the Mackenzie River, and also eastward from the Mackenzie for about 500 miles. Only seventy years ago, or thereabouts, herds of live musk-ox were found about fifty miles southeast of Point Borrow; but since that time the species has been exterminated throughout an area as long as from New York to Chicago.
MUSK-OX IN THE N. Y. ZOOLOGICAL PARK
To me every living musk-ox is a source of continual wonder. I am staggered by the fact that a warm-blooded animal, quite sheep-like in its general nature and mode of life, and which lives well in New York City, can survive and thrive and breed and be happy on the most northerly land in the world. The fact that whole herds of musk-ox can find food throughout the awful Arctic night, survive storms of unbelievable violence and duration, and cold that the human mind scarce can comprehend,—and voluntarily live under such conditions,—seems almost beyond belief.
And yet here in New York, wet in winter and hot in summer, we keep musk-ox comfortable in captivity for five years; and they do not suffer from the heat as much as do the men who take care of them. A part of our success is due to the fact that we keep our musk-ox dry, and never allow cold rains to come upon them. They have not yet bred; and we are at a loss to understand why.
A naturalist-historian given to light speaking might be tempted to say that the two musk-ox species were developed and placed in the frozen North for the support of explorers, and the promotion of geographic knowledge. For example, without the musk-ox herds as a base, Peary might never have attained the North Pole. It was he who killed and ate a musk-ox at the most northerly point of land in the world,—the northeast corner of Greenland. Whole herds of musk-ox have been killed and eaten by hungry explorers and the Eskimos and their dogs. The flesh of this animal should taste more like mutton than beef, but the man does not live who could distinguish it from beef of the same age. Evidently there are conditions under which a musk-ox bull has a perceptibly musky odor, but I have never been able to detect the slightest trace of it in any of the animals of my personal acquaintance.
There are two species. The White-Fronted Musk-ox has a broad band of soiled white hair across its face, just below the horns; and it inhabits Greenland and all the islands and lands westward thereof, down to the mainland of North America. The Barren Ground Musk-ox is the one of the Barren Grounds of northern Canada, and its lowest latitude is 64°, at the head of Chesterfield Inlet, which is at the northwestern corner of Hudson Bay.
Like nearly all the large land animals, the musk-ox is of gregarious habit, and maintains itself in herds of small size, usually not exceeding thirty or forty head. Its sharp, down-dropping horns seem to have been specially designed by nature to puncture the hide of the big white arctic wolf, which seeks big game at its farthest north. Whenever a musk-ox herd is attacked by wolves, or by dogs, the adult bulls and cows immediately form themselves into a hollow circle, with the calves inside; and thus they stand literally shoulder to shoulder, facing outward with horns at the “ready,” quite able to repel all attacks save those with firearms. If a dog or wolf comes near enough to a musk-ox so that there appears to be a chance to impale it, out rushes the musk-ox in a swift charge. Usually the nimble footed canine escapes unharmed, and as soon as it is beyond reach the musk-ox quickly returns to his place in the circle. The definiteness and precision with which the charge is made and the return accomplished shows a high degree of strategic intelligence; and thus is the fittest enabled to survive.
The musk-ox has two coats of hair—a sweater and a rain-coat. The sweater is of fine and dense fur, practically impervious to cold. The rain-coat is a suit of rather long and rather coarse straight hair, which hangs over and completely covers the inner coat, for the purpose of shedding snow and rain. The body color of the animal is a rich chocolate brown, and the legs are dull gray. Naturally one would expect to see a musk-ox provided with a broad, spreading hoof, like the snow-shoe hoof of the caribou; but this is not the case. The musk-ox hoof is rather small and compact.
Structurally this remarkable animal is half ox and half sheep,—just as its generic name, Ovibos, implies. It has no visible tail, and its drooping horns strongly resemble those of the Cape buffalo, of Africa.