![]() Boone and Crockett Club records clearly show that Barren-Ground Musk Oxen from the Canadian Mainland have a larger horn mass than the White-faced Musk Oxen from the Canadian Arctic Islands and Greenland. The horn bosses of mature bulls are usually wider. The Barren Ground Muskox (Ovibos moschatus moschatus) is bigger and has its distribution range on the Arctic mainland in Canada. Face, saddle and lower legs are supposed to be lighter. The White-faced Muskox (Ovibos moschatus wardi) is smaller, has smaller horns. Today some authors still recognize two subspecies because of physical characteristics and geographical separation : Historically, muskoxen were categorised into seven subspecies, which later were reduced to three. In photographs, slight differences can be detected in the amount of white on the forehead and between the horns but these, too, seem to be quite variable. ![]() wardi), nearly all completely cover those of the other putative subspecies. Įxceptions are only horn breadth at the base and mastoid breadth as a percentage of the basal length. For example, in his table of measurements, the range of variation of 16 skulls less than 8 years of age from North Grant Land (on Ellesmere Island), refer to the White-faced Muskox (O. Allen’s (1913) monograph, while thorough and remarkably detailed, is not convincing about geographic variation. Groves and Grubb (2011) also speak out in favour of a single valid species in stating: J. Muskoxen do not even exhibit a latitudinal or climatic trend in body size. įor example control-region sequences of mitochondrial DNA comparisons between muskox populations reveal only small differences and do not support recognition of subspecies. Several authors argue in support of not recognising any subspecies. Ovibos moschatus melvillensis Kowarzik, 1909 Subspecies Ovibos moschatus melvillensis Kowarzik, 1910 Ovibos moschatus mackenzianus Kowarzik, 1908 Ovibos moschatus mackenzianus Kowarzik, Great Slave Lake, 1910 Ovibos moschatus platycerus, Fischer von Waldheim, 1814 ĭiploid chromosome number: 48, 52 – contradicting! Other putative scientific namesīos moschatus, Zimmermann, 1780, Hudson Bay īos moschatus, Zimmermann, 1780, Canada (Manitoba, between Seal and Churchill rivers Muskoxen (Ovibos) and Takins (Budorcas) were formerly considered closely related and classified in the tribe Ovibovini, but Muskoxen, based on mitochondrial DNA alalysis, have a closer genetic relationship to Gorals (Nemorhaedus) and Serows (Capricornis) than to other genera of the tribe Caprini. Īnatomical, chromosomal and blood studies indicate that the Muskox is more related to sheep and goat than to cattle. Several extinct muskox genera, such as Bootherium and Symbos, also lived during the Pleistocene (Tener, 1965). ![]() Today it occupies only a vestige of its former range, which once extended from England to Siberia and over North America as far south as new York and Iowa. The Musk Ox (Ovibos) evolved in the late Pliocene or early ice age (Pleistocene) in Asia and spread to North America circa 90.000 years ago. Ovibos moschatus Zimmermann, 1780, Hudson Bay ![]() The Inuit name for the species is oomingmak (various spellings are possible), which means „the bearded one“, a good description of the long-haired muskox. The vernacular name „muskox“ may either be an Anglicised version of Jérémie’s boeuf musqué or, as Wilkinson (1971) suggests, derive from the Ojibwa-Indian word muskeg, which describes some of the habitat where the species is found. However, Musk Oxen do not possess musk glands, they do not ooze a musky smelling liquid from preorbital glands and they are not cattle or oxen. ![]() Jérémie referred to the animal as boeuf musquez (editor’s note: or mosqué? ), describing it as a kind of cattle smelling strongly of musk (Allen 1913). Zimmermann’s original description, Bos moschatus, is based on accounts by the French officer Jérémie, who was stationed on the west coast of Hudson Bay from 1697 to 1714. Ovis (Latin, a sheep), bos (Latin, an ox), and moschatus (Latin for musky) form the basis of the generic name. Scharf, October 2010įrench: bœuf musqué, Boeuf-musqué, Boeuf musque Group of four males from Kangerlussuaq, Greenland. ![]()
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