Talk:Muskox
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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)
--- Yes, of course. It was there already. Corrected. RodC
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[edit] Length height
The article gives varying length/height values: 2/1 versus 2.5/1.5. Which is correct? --chad 07:03, 20 December 2005 (UTC) A musk-ox stands at about the shoulders of a average 5'10" man and are longer then he can strech his arms and big bulls can weight 900lbs. Even when they get big like that the do not get any taller just wider. MK
[edit] Questionable paragraph
The musk ox gives delicious milk but they must be shaven every summer or else they get much too hot and will trample your body and smear your intestines on the floor. They don't make great pets.
The species has lived since the last Ice Age, rubbing shoulders with Wooly Mammoths.
-- These paragraphs look very informal and I think should be edited/paraphrased. Is there a way to view easily who did this addition/change? Simosx 14:57, 30 January 2006 (UTC)
- First sentence I took out entirely, second one... still a bit informal, but not as NPOV as the thing about pets and smearing intestines. 12.214.163.67 21:01, 30 January 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Maturity
only musk oxen from Banks Island reach sexual maturity at age 2 that is why there are so many on the Island. Age 3 for every where else but since 3/4's of the population lives on Banks Island it might still be true.
[edit] Wrong!
The the endangered or whatever picture below the picture of the muskox should not be low risk, it should be endangered! Because poachers are hunting them for their horns! Please correct that.
- Well the IUCN says that are are not endangered. You need to provide sources. I've lived in the arctic for over 30 years and I know of only one occassion where a muskox was shot for the horns. I've never heard of poachers hunting them. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 15:44, 23 May 2007 (UTC)
- In 2005 there were several muskoxen killed up here in Alaska by poachers in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. People were really upset. The Anchorage Daily News reported on it; however, muskoxen are no longer endangered. They've been reintroduced to much of their former range and are being raised commercially on three farms plus some experiment farms. They're actually doing pretty well. Deirdre 22:15, 23 May 2007 (UTC)
- My understanding is that they are one of the few creatures to make a come back from being almost extinct. If true it might make and interesting addition to the article. I do know that several years ago there were none hunted at all but now Ulukhaktok, Northwest Territories has over a 100 tags. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 05:24, 24 May 2007 (UTC)
- In 2005 there were several muskoxen killed up here in Alaska by poachers in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. People were really upset. The Anchorage Daily News reported on it; however, muskoxen are no longer endangered. They've been reintroduced to much of their former range and are being raised commercially on three farms plus some experiment farms. They're actually doing pretty well. Deirdre 22:15, 23 May 2007 (UTC)
- Whether a species are threatened or endangered is not up to if a species is hunted or not. Or whether they are hunted as trophies (which I personally condemn) or to be used as food (which I find positive – but muskoxen is dog food, I’ve tried!) as long as the hunting is controlled and practiced in a sustainable manner. Let’s stick to the IUCN definition: LR/lc – That is: Lower risk (of least concern). So it is NOT threatened at all. (see http://www.iucnredlist.org)
- Carl S. Bj 11:51, 20 June 2007 (UTC)
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- In Nunavut and the NWT of Canada even if the muskox is hunted a trophy the meat is still retained for elders in the community. Of course that doesn't apply to poaching them. If you feel that they taste like dog food then it's not being cooked correctly. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 14:14, 20 June 2007 (UTC)
[edit] It's Muskox, not Musk ox
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)
- 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)
[edit] Native only to North America?
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)
If we dont't bother with the interglacials, muskoxen is not native to Eurasia. It lived there before the last glaciation, fossils shows, but that's hardly relevant by my opinion. Carl S. Bj 11:30, 20 June 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Range
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)
