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Most people have no idea what musk oxen are, as it is often overshadowed by polar bears, walrus, seals, reindeer and caribou and other iconic species of the Arctic. The musk ox, however, has evaded and survived ancient overhunting and it is the largest Arctic land mammal today (polar bears are classified as a marine species). It roamed the tundra and hillsides with wooly mammoths and somehow only they survived against all the odds.
The species is not related to cattle despite it’s name. It is actually related to sheep and mountain goats. So it does not prefer the open plains in their range, but rather hillsides and steep cliffs. It survives because their nuzzle can shove the deep snow out of the way so that the herbivore can feast on the exposed grasses below the snowpack.
The National Geographic reports:
Berger and his team spent February and March for several years studying muskoxen on the icy plains of Siberia and northern Alaska because "we know less about these species than many other large mammals." While polar bears and caribou have been tracked for years, most muskoxen work is done from the sky, as scientists use aerial surveys to count animals.
To understand how extreme weather may be hitting these massive creatures, the scientists, like their subjects, huddled in the dark through good weather and bad, taking photographs and notes. They tracked animal sizes and weather events and used computer models.
They knew that in 2003, one massive rain-on-snow event led 20,000 muskoxen to starve. But they found there also were consequences to frequent smaller events. When pregnant animals were exposed to such periods, they struggled to find food, and their offspring were born with smaller heads. That actually is a big thing.
"Whether we think about malnourished children or elk, we know that during gestation, especially during the last trimester, if a mother can't get access to food, the baby pays the price," Berger says. Muskoxen "come out runtier," which, like other mammals, can lead to shorter lifespans and poor health.
The longterm consequences are unlikely to be good. And increasing warmth is also increasing rain through Arctic winters and springs.
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