Talk:Muskox

message: AFAIK, the musk ox is a bovid, but not a bovine, being related to the caprines instead. Does anyone confirm? RodC 16:40, 28 Feb 2004 (UTC)
thread_title: Untitled

message: The article gives varying length/height values: 2/1 versus 2.5/1.5. Which is correct? --chad 07:03, 20 December 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Length height 

message: According to Jan Rowell, a scientist at the Large Animal Research Station, at the third international conference on muskoxen (in 1987), the common name was agreed on by the attending scientists as muskox (pl. muskoxen), basically because the animal is not an ox. It's in its own subfamily and most closely related to wild goats, apparently. This also makes more sense grammatically. So I recommend that this article be moved to Muskox; however, I don't want to just go do it without discussion first. Deirdre 23:00, 31 October 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Well according to the link on the article page that is correct. A look at IUCN Red List gives both. But I have no objection to the move. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 04:53, 2 November 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Okay, it's been a while; I'm going ahead with the move. Deirdre 19:01, 9 November 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Well, it won't let me, so now I have to figure out how to get it moved...Deirdre 19:12, 14 November 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  It's Muskox,  not Musk ox 

message: The article says it is native to North America only, while the animal once thrived in Europe as well as Russia. Is there a reason for this (eg they now living animals all are descendants of those from NA)?
:They were widespread throughout the Arctic, and the ones in Alaska are descended from muskoxen in Canada and Greenland. I'm not sure about whether they were extinct in Siberia--don't think so. Deirdre 19:30, 14 November 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Well the Takin article leads to Convergent evolution which suggests that they would have unrelated lineages. They are both related to sheep/goats. The question would be better put at Wikipedia:Reference desk/Science. CambridgeBayWeather Have a gorilla 09:55, 21 October 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Native only to North America? 

message: The range picture that's been added to this article appears not to be consistent with the text. The way, the truth, and the light 17:25, 29 May 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Should it red or blue though? CambridgeBayWeather (talk) 06:44, 31 August 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Range 

message: "Musk oxen (Ovibos moschatus) are considered the most "arctic" of the northern land mammals. Whereas a polar bear resembles other bears, there is really no other animal like a muskox. With impressive long, curved horns, stout body, and woolly coat, muskox are the only survivor of a group of "ice-age" oxen species from about 18,000 years ago. They are the only High Arctic mammals that seek no shelter of any kind during winter blizzards. Their thick coats (which is dark brown except for a pale cream-colored saddle) keep them warm enough so... they just stand there! Their outer coat of long guard hairs almost reach the ground and even camouflage most of their white legs underneath. Both males and females have horns which are mainly used as defense against wolves - their only natural predator.
When wolves threaten a herd, the adult musk oxen arrange themselves in a circle with their young in the middle or in a line with the young behind them. The wolves are then faced with an unbroken row of lowered heads and sharp horns. So, unless they are very quick and get a calf before the adult musk oxen are all lined up, the wolves simply just have to give up!"
Reference: 
Kindly research and include these facts too in this article. Thanks
mrigthrishna (talk) 01:27, 18 August 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: If you look at the "Physical characteristics" section of the article, fourth paragraph it does discuss the circle strategy. The fifth paragraph mentions that the muskox "..migrated to North America between 200,000 and 90,000 years ago." Somewhat more than the 18,000 mention in the article. Enter CambridgeBayWeather, waits for audience applause, not a sausage 05:32, 18 August 2009 (UTC)
thread_title: Ice Age Survivor and Predation

message: "...noted for its thick coat and for the strong odor emitted by males, from which its name derives. This musky odor is used to attract females during mating season."
I've read that muskoxen have no musk glands. Shouldn't this be reflected in the article? --Ifrit (talk) 09:34, 28 September 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Musk 

message: :"The species has also been reintroduced from Banks Island to northern Europe, including Sweden, the Dovre mountain range of Norway, and Russia"
Shouldn't this be "introduced", as the article says their native range is solely in N. America?  Rojomoke (talk) 20:29, 10 September 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Introduced or Reintroduced 

message: I've decided to delete the unsourced comment that muskoxen were threatened in Quebec until hunting was banned or something like that. As you can read here, muskoxen have never inhabited Quebec in the remote past, despite the habitat there being suitable, because (my guess) the Hudson Bay acted as a barrier to their expansion. A farm whith animals from Ellesmere Island was established in northern Quebec in 1967 and, when it failed to make a profit, the animals were released in the wild. Since then the muskoxen have done nothing but going up in numbers. Thus, while I don't negate the possibility that this was helped by either Quebec or Canada banning hunting (of which I personally know no evidence whatsoever) I do negate that the muskox was ever a threatened species in Quebec.--Menah the Great (talk) 12:17, 12 January 2013 (UTC)
replies: text: There's a map in this article too. As I noted in another discussion above, for what it's worth, I saw a group of muskoxen (perhaps 20-30?) near Kangirsuk, Quebec, circa 2001. Nicolas Perrault (talk) 18:49, 14 October 2017 (UTC)

text: The map in the article you link to appears to be very inaccurate (compare, for example the range it shows in Alaska - more than half the state - to what our map shows), so I wouldn't recommend basing anything on it. WolfmanSF (talk) 19:30, 14 October 2017 (UTC)
thread_title:  Muskox in Quebec 

message: I'd like to see a section on the importance of this animal to the First Peoples. Is it used for milk, meat, clothing, shelter? Thanks. I am ignorant of this topic, even though I have BeenAroundAWhile (talk) 05:11, 16 September 2017 (UTC)
replies: text: Some relevant info is given in the Physical characteristics and Recent native range in North America sections. WolfmanSF (talk) 05:28, 16 September 2017 (UTC)
thread_title:  Importance to First Peoples 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

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thread_title:  External links modified (February 2018) 

message: The range attirbuted to the musk ox in this page has long been outdated or just plain wrong (underestimated in North America and Siberia, failed introduction to Svalbard shown as successful, etc).
This is an accurate range map for 2019. Photoshop wizards, please update the map.--Menah the Great (talk) 05:46, 14 April 2021 (UTC)
thread_title:  Range map 

message: — Assignment last updated by Jessicaphillips10 (talk) 01:16, 3 October 2022 (UTC)
thread_title: Wiki Education assignment: Environmental physiology

message: In the 1970s there was an attempt to raise muskox in Vermont. The adults did fine, but my understanding is that the young ones died of respiratory infections due, apparently, to the humidity being wrong. I saw them myself in Richmond or Huntington but can't supply a reference.Bill (talk) 23:25, 1 June 2024 (UTC)
replies: text: Update: The person who did this was John Teal, who also worked on domesticating muskox in Alaska. He had some on his farm in Huntington Center, Vermont. Googling him will bring up some information about his work.Bill (talk) 18:36, 2 June 2024 (UTC)
thread_title: Introduction to Vermont