The Making of a Diorama
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Do Dolphins Have Hair?
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Recreating Nature Indoors
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Museum Scientists on Evolution
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Musk ox
Ovibos moschatus (Zimmermann, 1780)
Scene:
Fosheim Peninsula, Ellesmere Island, CanadaSponsor:
Mr. and Mrs. Hugh H. LoganBackground artist:
Duncan Alanson SpencerThe musk ox is noted for its thick coat and for the strong odor of the male. Musk oxen have a distinctive defensive behavior in which the males, facing outward, will form a stationary ring around the females and young.
Musk ox wool is highly prized by the Inuit for its softness, length and insulative value.
Biological Information
Range:
Alaska, northern Canada, Greenland, Russia
Habitat:
Arctic tundra
Status:
Near extinction at the end of the 19th Century but now protected in Canada and populations re-established in Alaska, Greenland and Russia
Diet:
Grasses and sedges in summer; also lichens, browse such as crowberry, cowberry and willow in winter
Further information about this species may be found on the Animal Diversity Web page for musk ox.