Length & Height: Musk Ox length is about 6 feet and the height at the shoulder, is 3 feet 6 inches.
Description: In spite of their comparatively short and massive limbs, musk oxen can run with considerable speed. However, when thoroughly alarmed, they are told to take to hilly ground, where they display marvelous agility in climbing precipitous cliffs. In spite of stories to the opposite effect, that even old bulls are by no means dangerous animals. A musk ox’s long woolly coat is highly valued by the Esquimaux, who use it for various purposes.
A herd of musk oxen can range in size from twenty or thirty to eighty or a hundred animals. Large herds appear to be found during the winter months, with big bulls for the most part solitary during the summer months, and small groups of cows and calves traveling in groups of ten to twenty.
The single calf is produced in May or June and the cows are reported by the natives to breed only once in two years so the rate of increase is slow. In summer, their food consists almost exclusively of the leaves of the small willows scattered here and there over the Barren Grounds, but grass, moss, and lichens are also largely consumed, and in winter these two lasts, with perhaps bark, must form their sole nutriment.
Range: Arctic barrens of North America, east of the Mackenzie River. In Greenland occurs the closely allied Peary’s musk ox (O. wardi Lyddeker). The herds of musk oxen, now confined to the Arctic regions of North America, would seem to be the last lingering representatives of a diminishing race. Related species formerly inhabited most of Siberia and parts of northern Europe, as well as Germany, England, and France; their fossil remains have been found in all those countries.
Appearance: Musk oxen are curious long-haired shaggy beasts, in appearance halfway between bison and sheep, and combining the characters of each in structure and habits. The old males are rank of musk, especially in the rutting season when their flesh is practically uneatable. As a general thing, the females are almost free from the musky odor to which the species owes its name. It has been observed by the musk ox hunters that when the animals are fat the odor of musk is much less noticeable.
Musk Ox are heavily built with rather short legs and horns the male is very heavy, their bases meeting on top of the head and curving downward and up again at the tip. The entire head and body were covered with a dense mane, matted and curly on the shoulders, but hanging straight on the rest of the body nearly to the ground. The color is very dark brown or blackish on the head and sides; a saddle-shaped patch on the back as well as short hair between the horns, muzzle, and limbs below the knees and hocks yellowish white.
Movements: In their movements, the herds resemble sheep, with the old bulls leading and the whole assemblage clumping together when alarmed, much like a flock of sheep.
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