Muskox
The muskox (Ovibos moschatus, in Latin "musky sheep-ox"), also spelled musk ox and musk-ox, plural muskoxen or musk oxen (in Inuktitut: ᐅᒥᖕᒪᒃ, romanized: umingmak; in Woods Cree: ᒫᖨᒨᐢ, romanized: mâthi-môs, ᒫᖨᒧᐢᑐᐢ, mâthi-mostos), is a hoofed mammal of the family Bovidae. Native to the Arctic, it is noted for its thick coat and for the strong odor emitted by males during the seasonal rut, from which its name derives. This musky odor has the effect of attracting females during mating season. Its Inuktitut name "umingmak" translates to "the bearded one".
| Muskox Temporal range: Middle Pleistocene – Holocene | |
|---|---|
| in Dovrefjell National park, Norway | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Artiodactyla |
| Family: | Bovidae |
| Subfamily: | Caprinae |
| Tribe: | Ovibovini |
| Genus: | Ovibos Blainville, 1816 |
| Species: | O. moschatus |
| Binomial name | |
| Ovibos moschatus (Zimmermann, 1780) | |
| Range map: blue indicates areas where muskox reintroduction has been attempted in the 20th century; red indicates the previous established range. | |
| Synonyms | |
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Generic:
Specific:
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Its Woods Cree names "mâthi-môs" and "mâthi-mostos" translate to "ugly moose" and "ugly bison", respectively. In historic times, muskoxen primarily lived in Greenland and the Canadian Arctic of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut, They were formerly present in Eurasia, with their youngest natural records in the region dating to around 2,700 years ago, with reintroduced populations in the American state of Alaska, the Canadian territory of Yukon, and Siberia, and an introduced population in Norway, part of which emigrated to Sweden, where a small population now lives.