Ovibos moschatus

Muskox(Ovibos moschatus)

Phylumchordata
Class — mammalia
Order — artiodactyla
Family — bovidae

Genus – ovibos

Appearance

Muskoxen stand 1.1 to 1.5 m (4 to 5 ft) high at the shoulder, with females measuring 135 to 200 cm (4.4 to 6.6 ft) in length, and the larger males 200 to 250 cm (6.6 to 8.2 ft). The small tail, often concealed under a layer of fur, measures only 10 cm (3.9 in) long. Adults, on average, weigh 285 kg (630 lb) and range from 180 to 410 kg (400 to 900 lb).

Both male and female muskoxen have long, curved horns. Their coat, a mix of black, grey, and brown, includes long guard hairs that almost reach the ground.

Habitat

Muskox live in the frozen Arctic.

Behavior

Muskox live in herds of 12–24 in the winter and 8–20 in the summer. They do not hold territories, but they do mark their trails with preorbital glands. Male and female muskoxen both have separate age-based hierarchies, with mature oxen being dominant over juveniles. Dominant oxen tend to get access to the best resources and will displace subordinates from patches of grass during the winter.

Muskox bulls assert their dominance in many different ways. One is a "rush and butt", in which a dominant bull rushes a subordinate from the side with its horns, and will warn the subordinate so it can have a chance to get away. Bulls will also roar, swing their heads, and paw the ground. Dominant bulls sometimes treat subordinate bulls like cows. A dominant bull will casually kick a subordinate with its foreleg, something they do to cows during mating. Dominant bulls will also mock copulate subordinates and sniff their genitals. A subordinate bull can change his status by charging a dominant bull.

Muskoxen have a distinctive defensive behavior: when the herd is threatened, the bulls and cows will face outward to form a stationary ring or semicircle around the calves. The bulls are usually the front line for defense against predators with the cows and juveniles gathering close to them.

Diet

Muskoxen have a broad muzzle, which allows a higher food intake rate. The quality of vegetation in the arctic climates is poor compared to warmer climates.  Their diet consists of grasses, sedges, forbs, woody plants and willow shoots. In the winter months their diet consists of dead vegetation and grainivore material.

Reproduction

The mating season of the muskoxen begins in late June or early July. During this time, dominant bulls will fight others out of the herds and establish harems of usually six or seven cows and their offspring. Fighting bulls will first rub their preorbital glands against their legs while bellowing loudly, and then display their horns. The bulls then back up 20 meters, lower their heads, and charge into each other, and will keep doing so until one bull gives up.Dominant bulls will prevent cows from leaving their harems. During mating, a bull will casually kick an estrous cow with his foreleg to calm her down and make her more receptive to his advances.

While the bulls are more aggressive during the rutting season and make the decisions in the groups, the females take charge during gestation. Pregnant females are aggressive and decide what distance the herd travels in a day and where they will bed for the night. The herds move more frequently when cows are lactating, to allow them to get enough food to nurse their offspring. Cows have an eight- to nine-month gestation period, with calving occurring from April to June. Cows do not calve every year. When winters are severe, cows will not go into estrus and thus not calve the next year. When calving, cows stay in the herd for protection. Muskox are precocial, and calves are able to keep up with the herd within just a few hours after birth. The calves are welcomed into the herd and nursed for the first two months. After that, a calf then begins eating vegetation and nurses only occasionally. Cows communicate with their calves through braying. The calf's bond with its mother weakens after two years.

Average lifespan in the wild: 12 to 20 years.

In captivity

Muskoxen can be kept in pens with an area of about 450 m2. The pen is divided into two parts, in each of them stone slides and dig tree trunks should be arranged. During the rut, these structures serve as an obstacle for the male pursuing the females. A sprinkler is installed in the pen, which is turned on in hot weather to cool down by evaporation of water. In addition, many trees are needed in and around the paddock to provide shade. Muskoxen`s feeding is not particularly difficult. Animals willingly eat branch feed, root crops and concentrates. Muskoxen prefer eating hayfrom grasses of various grasses or meadow. They eat with great pleasure willow, aspen, oak, rowan, the least preferable is birch. Out of root vegetables they prefer eating carrots. The animals eat grass and fresh branches (hay and brooms in winter) throughout the day.

The amount of liquid consumed depends on weather conditions: in dry hot weather, an adult muskox drinks about 16 liters of water at a time, and when it is cold and wet it takes no more than 2-3 liters.

Feeding with concentrates and root crops is performed in stills, the male is closed separately from the females for the time of feeding.

The maximum number of animals kept together in one pen is five. Among them there is  one adult sexually mature male, three adult females, and one male at the age of twelve months. Keeping two adult males on a small territory is unacceptable, since during the rut they can injure each other, in some cases it can lead to the death of one of the rivals.

 

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