Pity the musk ox.
January 18, 2018 11:41 AM Subscribe
Oh, just musk ox? I was promised weird arctic mammals. They’re big floofy horned things that stand around in snow eating grass. Not even the only ones. Ain’t exactly platypuses, The Atlantic.
(Also, dictionaries be damned, does musk oxen — used an astounding 27 times in this piece — feel completely wrong to anyone else? As a Canadian person, albeit a Canadian person far outside the animals’ range, I’ve nearly always encountered it as musk ox, plural, which is how one of the quoted scientists uses it.)
posted by Sys Rq at 12:49 PM on January 18, 2018 [1 favorite]
(Also, dictionaries be damned, does musk oxen — used an astounding 27 times in this piece — feel completely wrong to anyone else? As a Canadian person, albeit a Canadian person far outside the animals’ range, I’ve nearly always encountered it as musk ox, plural, which is how one of the quoted scientists uses it.)
posted by Sys Rq at 12:49 PM on January 18, 2018 [1 favorite]
In Norway we just call them "moskus", so we don't have to deal with this nonsense.
posted by Dumsnill at 1:00 PM on January 18, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by Dumsnill at 1:00 PM on January 18, 2018 [4 favorites]
"Weird" possibly because they are living relics (previously), but fortunately for their species at large, they are considered "least concern." The death of these 52 was tragic, and the impact of climate change on their young will be important to track, but they're faring better than other species (earlier today). Then again, their general survival is partially dependent on the existence of tundra landscapes, and it's uncertain what the tundra habitats will look like, or where they will be, in the future.
posted by filthy light thief at 1:17 PM on January 18, 2018
posted by filthy light thief at 1:17 PM on January 18, 2018
they are considered "least concern."
That, despite, as the article mentions, “Some 20,000 musk oxen died after a rain-on-snow event struck a Canadian Arctic island in 2003.”
That Canadian Arctic island was Banks Island — which, being bigger than Tasmania, might deserve to be referred to by name, The Atlantic — where the majority of the world’s ~100,000 musk ox live. So, around 20% of the world’s musk ox dropped dead all at once because, in one particular area, it rained a bit.
“Least concern,” indeed.
posted by Sys Rq at 1:32 PM on January 18, 2018 [6 favorites]
That, despite, as the article mentions, “Some 20,000 musk oxen died after a rain-on-snow event struck a Canadian Arctic island in 2003.”
That Canadian Arctic island was Banks Island — which, being bigger than Tasmania, might deserve to be referred to by name, The Atlantic — where the majority of the world’s ~100,000 musk ox live. So, around 20% of the world’s musk ox dropped dead all at once because, in one particular area, it rained a bit.
“Least concern,” indeed.
posted by Sys Rq at 1:32 PM on January 18, 2018 [6 favorites]
"And with adult males weighing in at 800 pounds, musk oxen are only the Arctic’s largest land mammal because the roughly 1,000-pound polar bear is classified as a marine creature."
I kind of get why.
posted by lagomorphius at 1:39 PM on January 18, 2018 [1 favorite]
I kind of get why.
posted by lagomorphius at 1:39 PM on January 18, 2018 [1 favorite]
Horrific :( Poor critters.
posted by Rufous-headed Towhee heehee at 10:19 PM on January 18, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Rufous-headed Towhee heehee at 10:19 PM on January 18, 2018 [1 favorite]
Those poor lovely muskox. This brought me to an awareness of their plight though. Also i had no idea they were more like sheep.
posted by biggreenplant at 4:26 AM on January 19, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by biggreenplant at 4:26 AM on January 19, 2018 [1 favorite]
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Musk oxen were (re)introduced to the Dovre Mountains in Norway in the late 1940's and developed a small but fairly stable population. There was a major die-off a few years ago, probably due to a disease, but as far as I know the population now seems to have stabilised again at around 250 to 300 individuals, only a bit lower than their highest ever counted population.
posted by Dumsnill at 12:37 PM on January 18, 2018