V TELlSTOtr INTROBtJCTlON OF
MUSKOXEN INTO ALASKA
(By \\. E. Playfair, in Boston Even
iing Transcript.)
' One of .the most ambitious game
s. „ stocking experiments ever attempte(
„ is off to a good start, the plan of thi
• United States Government to restori
, to the Arctic- ranges of Alaska tha
.< queer animal, the muskox, extinct ii
>. that pat of Ahe-world for more thai
a century. From College, Alaska
• comes • word - that a herd of thirty
*1 four young muskoxen which arrive*
. there Iasi. November from Greenlam
. are thriving in their new environmen
'«. and there is reason to believe tha
» thi sventure may be as successful
i albeit on a smaller scale, as the trans
, planting of reindeer from Siberia t
.. Alaska.
The decimation of the cariboi
*' herds with the introduction of th
rifle among the native hunters of th
* North has made it necessary for gov
<. ernments to consider the problem o
* t food supply for the denizens of th
Arctic waste. The reindeer was th
, first answer to-the question and be
*. cause of the notable success that at
; tended the .Alaska reindeer experi
i. ment the government of Canada mor
than a year ago purchased 3,000 hea
, _ of reindeer in Alaska for shipment t
the Mackenzie river delta. This here
t. . considerably augmented ‘during it
i long trek, has not yet reached its des
(, tination and may not for ■ anothe
year. Canada had considered musk
( oxen before embarking on the reir
. deer venture, hut decided, on th
* t quicker and easire method.
.t remained then for- the Unite
. States to make the first expeimer
. on record in transplanting the musk
* ox, that ■ strange beast which is sai
i by naturalists to be a descendant c
, prehistoric animals that ranged th
. regions of ice, snow and rock, whic
in former times spread over-the lan
areas of the northern polar hem:
_ sphere. Canada and Greenland ar
, the any two countries in the worl
‘ where the muskox is to be found tc
>. day in its wild state, and as Canad
is making an effort to preserve th
species, Greenland was the logics
source of supply. The Alaska Legis
lature sett he ball rolling by sendini
; a memorial to Congress on the sub
ject. Congress last year voted $40,
**. 000 to the appropriation of the Bio
. logical Survey for the purpose, an
last summer the muskoxen were cap
tured in Greenland and started o
. their long journey.
The thirty-four animals, haf o
. them calves and the rest yearlings o
older, were shipped via Norway o
the Norwegian-American Line vess<
Bergensf jord, arriving at New Yor
. September 15 last. Still in the crate
. in which they had been kept while o
: board the ship, they were taken t
Athenia, N. J., for quarantine perio
1 of 33 days, when they continued their
long pilgrimage. L. J. Palmer, who
is in charge of the United States Bi
ological Survey’s reindeer experiment
station at College, Alaska, and who
. made the trip with the musxoxer
[ from New York to that station, de
■ .tribes it in these words:
> '“'lhe animals were fed on nativt
; hay en route to New York, but upor
i reaching quarantine were immediate
( iy placed on alfalfa hay. They tool
to the new feed at once, and no diflfi
. c.ulty whatever was experienced
1 the feedin. Salt was also given, anc
1 a considerable amount was taken
t l he animals drank much water, din
t, to the warm weather prevailing. Th<
muskoxen seemed distressed durinj
. warm weather, breathing heavily an<
} feeding less. They much preferred th<
cooler days.
j “During the quarantine period
; Sept. 16 to Oct. 18, a total of abou
, 8,400 pounds of alfalfa hay was used
. or at a daily rate of 7 1-2 pounds pe
f animal. Approximately one-quarte
a of the hay was wasted, so that tb
; actual used was probably about !
. pounds per day per head.
“No disease or sickness developed
. and the animals were released fron
e quarantine on the afternoon of Ocl
j 18, when they were loaded onto tw<
3 long express cars, 17 animals to th
i car. The. cars were picked up th
s ext morning for Jersey City. W
_ arrived at Seattle Oct. 23. Nex
r morning the animals were loade
. aboard the Alaska Steamship Com
_ pany steamer Yukon, leaving the fol
e .owing morning, We arrived at Sew
ard, Alaska, Oct. 31, and unloade
j :nto four box cars-for the journey t
t, Fairbanks via the Alaska Railwaj
. this requiring four \days by slo>
j Lie.ght. En route much interest wa
f qisp.ayed in the muskoxen shipment
e and we had many visitors,
i “In leaving Jersey City the tern
I perature in the cars was about 60 dt
- grees. We soon encountered coole
e weather en route, and the averag
I temperature in the cars dropped t
- between 40 and 50, the lowest 33 de
a grees. At Seattle the temperatur
b climbed to 60. The first two day
1 aboard ship the temperature was- u
-1 to 72 degrees. By insisting on keep
t ing the hatch wide open we succeed
- ed in lowering this for the remainde
- of the trip to a temperature of be
- tween ’0 and 60. Arriving at Sewar
1 we encountered snow and freezinj
- weather. En route to Fairbanks th
r average temperature in the box car
| held between 20 and 40 degrees
f When the animals were released a
r College the temperature was at 1
a above. Weighed in at the experimen
1 station, the yearling muskoxen aver
k aged 205 pounds, the smallest weigh
s ing 175 pounds and the largest (
n cow probably two years old) weigh
o ing 284 pounds. The calves average
d 104 pounds, the smallest being 7
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pounds and the largest 131 pounds.”
Mr. Palmer reports that the ani
mals proved disappointingly uncon
cerned upon their release at the ex
periment station and that some had
o be forced out of their crates. They
are being held this winter in a 40
acre enclosure and are being fed on
/ar.ous kind of hay. He continues:
“ihe anima.s are continuing to do
we.i and are in excellent condition.
. heir coats have a glossy appearance
«nd the animals are foil and rounded
i n outline. 1 r ng he period Nov. 5
I o Jan. 7, a, iy .wo months,
. the calves sa an t,v ^age gain in
! weight of 2a.-;5 po n^s per head and
> the yearlings 33 pounds. Ihus it may
: be stated that the animals have made
I an approximate gain per head of half
* a pound per day since arrival at the
station.
, “The muslioxen clean up all that
: we give them and are proving good
, feeders. We are holding them to a
r maintenance ration of about five
r pounds per head per day. Between
5 feedings the animals forage a bit in
» the pasture for low shrubs. We have
successfully fed so far the following
, feeds: Alfalfa hay, a mixture of al
i fafa meal, molasses meal, brome hay
. raised locally, oat hay raised locally
) wild sedge hay and wild redtop hay
i The muskoxen have showed them
3 seive to be superior feeders, and alsc
i we have reason to belive should prove
t good rust.ers on the open range.
1 “The animals show a strong pro
- tective instinct, resent handling, bul
- are not vicious. The calves are read
- dy amenable to friendly approach
1 but the yearlings are more cautious
J in feeding, however, the herd shows
, considerable confidence and one car
is approach with impunity. As a here
s .ney may be driven and handled by
,, corraling. We employ chute anr
squeeze gate for holding individua
. animals.”
In prehistoric times the muskor
r was distributed over a wide range of
e territory. Its fossilized remains have
a been found in fairly recent geolog
. ical deposits in Siheria, Russia, Ger
e many, Austria, France and England
s proving that its habitat once includ
3 ed Northern Europe and Asia as wlel
- as Northern North America. There
- is evidence that the animals were
c found in Alaska, although not. ir
- large numbers, within the ast. hun
1 dred years.
r Ernest Thompson Seton estimate*
; that the muskoxen of the United
5 States had a range of about the same
. area as that of the plains buffalo,
t that is, about 2,000 by 3,000 miles,
i and that “the 50,000,000 of plains
t buffal were probably contemporane
- ous with less than 1,000,000 musk
- oxen.” With this opinion, however
i Dr. R. M. Anderson, chief of the Di
- vision of Biology, National Museuir
1 on Canadian fauna, disagrees. He
1 says:
- j “My opinion is that this figure foi
the muskoxen is probably greatly
j overestimated, as much of this coun
; try was not muskoxen range, includ
I ing great lakes, extensive glaciers
TABLE OF DI8TANCES BE
TWEEN NGNANA AMD FLA1
Nenana
Tavern Roadhouse __
Knight’s Roadhouse _
Nineteen-Mile Roadhouse
Diamond Roadhouse_
Roosevelt
Lake Minchumina__116
! Trappers’ Cabin_ 182
I Lone Star Roadhouse_168
i Telida Roadhouse- 108M
Slow Fork Roadhouse_187
East Fork Roadhouse_) 266
Berry’s Landing Roadhouse_ 227M
Big River Roadhouse-241
McGrath ...§66
Takotna .—-— 280
Bill Goss’ Roadhouse__261
2phir_____806
cCafferty ..806
Brown Creek shelter cabin-818
Fritz shelter oabin-—
First (Stance shelter cabin — 846
Schermeyer R. H.-868
Iditarod__376
Flat _____384
Bonanzza sheler cabin, 12 miles
from Flat.
Crooked Creek shelter cabin, 18
aUn from Bonanza.
I
and large areas of barren rocks tbai
did not afford forage. Furthermore
the hunting population was neve:
-arge in muskox territory, the tradi
in robes was never large, and thi
muskox country does not show re
mains (skulls, bones, etc.) in thi
quantity which was found on the buf
faio range before the bones wen
picked up or plowed under.”
• It is much easier to arrive at thi
approximate number of the animal
still available in the bleak Arcti
plains. Most of these are on the Arc
tic islands of Canada, with a few o:
the mainland of the Dominion, whil
a f_w hundred survive in Greenland
Dr. Anderson places the probabl
total at 14,420, distributed as follows
Melvil.c isar.d, 44)00; Ellsmere Is
land, 4,000; Axel Heiberg Island
1,000; Devon Island, 200; Baathurs
Island, 1,500; Prince of Wales Islanc
1,500; Cornwallis Island, 200; Vic
voria Islands20; Canadian mainlanc
500; North, and East Greenland, l,g0(
From, a scientific standpoint th
muskox is of .the greatest interest, a
it occupies a unique position in th
animal world. While it is not. strict
iy speaking, a .ink between the tw
families of sheep,-'on the one hanc
and cattle on the other; a relation in
dicated by its scientific name “ovibu
moschatus,” it'nevertheless-combine
anatomical and other characters be
longing to the two large groups. I
size it equals one of the small breed
of Welsh or Scotch cattle, and in aj
pcarance it resemblles a small buf
falo.
Paul G. Redington, chief of th. Bi
ologica Survey, gives this descriptio
of the animals:
i “Muskox resemble somewhat
small-sized buffalo or bison. The
have a distinct hump, though.it is no
! so conspicuous as the buffalo’s. Tfcoi
color is dark brownish to black wit
t lighter brown -or cream color on th
: back. They grow' an undercoat o
ti.ick wool and through this woe
i grow long, black guard hairs tha
i _
■;
, may sweep almost to the ground,- giv
, ing the animals a stocky appeararceo
• Mature animals weigh approximately
s 500 pounds, sometimes more.
: “A distinctive feature Pf the musk
• oxen is the heavily-horned head. Mn
! ture bulls have barns whose massive
- bases are close together at the fore
: head, and after descending turn
sharply upward and end in sharp
5 points. The horns of the female are
• similar but somewhat more slender.
: These make excellent weapns
- against wolves, which are the only
i formidable natural enemies of the
i muskoxen. When attacked, the adult
. animals form a circle with horns out
i ward and with the calves protected
: within the circle Effective as this is
- against woven, it is suicidal against
, men armed with rifles. Hunters were
t probably able to kill most of a herd
. which often represented all the musk
• oxen within many miles. Muskoxer
, rarely travel far fro m th*ir local
• range..
s “In summer the animals feed or
3 grass and succulent, herbage. In win
s ter they feed on dried grasses and
- browse on dwarf willows. They like:
> to feed on open wind-swept ridges
, and other high places where the wine1
- blows away the snow, but they are
s1 able to paw away snow and reach
s deeply buried food Surprisingly,
- ter condition in winter than in sum
a' mer. The heavy coats protect then1
s against, the cold of winter and against
- insect attacks in summer.”
Vilbjalmar Stefanson, the Arctic
explorer, and other authorities agref
- that the flesh of the muskox is very
s nutritious and palatable, and com
pares favorably with beef, thc-ugt
» more tender and luscious. It is gen
y erally admitted, however, that the
t flesh of .the older bulls is somewha
r rank an dmusty in flavor.
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