Misplaced Pages

#699300

77-657: There are muskoxen near the shores of the fjord. The fjord was named after the Reverend Dr. Newman of Washington, D.C. in September 1871 during the Polaris expedition by Charles Francis Hall . It would be the last place Hall named in Greenland, for he was taken ill shortly thereafter and died in November the same year. Newman fjord is roughly SE/NW oriented and opens to the northwest. To

154-537: A temperate grassland , restricting southern tundra to coastal Antarctica and its islands. The flora and fauna of Antarctica and the Antarctic Islands (south of 60° south latitude) are protected by the Antarctic Treaty . Alpine tundra does not contain trees because the climate and soils at high altitude block tree growth. The cold climate of the alpine tundra is caused by the low air temperatures, and

231-444: A "light, sweetish, ethereal" odor. Analysis of preorbital gland secretion extract showed the presence of cholesterol (which is nonvolatile), benzaldehyde , a series of straight-chain saturated γ-lactones ranging from C 8 H 14 O 2 to C 12 H 22 O 2 (with C 10 H 18 O 2 being most abundant), and probably the monounsaturated γ-lactone C 12 H 20 O 2 . The saturated γ-lactone series has an odor similar to that of

308-624: A 73-year-old man was killed in a muskox attack in Norway. The animal was later killed by local authorities. On 13 December 2022, a court services officer with the Alaska State Troopers was killed by a muskox near Nome, Alaska . The officer was trying to scare away a group of muskox near a dog kennel at his home when one of the animals attacked him. Historically, this species declined because of overhunting, but populations have recovered following enforcement of hunting regulations. Management in

385-406: A Swedish herd was established. The Norwegian population on Dovrefjell is managed over an area of 340 km (130 sq mi) and in the summer of 2012 consisted of approximately 300 animals. Since 1999, the population has mostly been increasing, but it suffered a measles outbreak in the summer of 2004 that killed 29. Some animals are also occasionally killed as a result of train collisions on

462-423: A distinctive defensive behavior: when the herd is threatened, the adults 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. Bulls determine the defensive formation during rutting, while the cows decide the rest of the year. The preorbital gland secretion of muskoxen has

539-543: A high threshold of fat reserves in order to conceive, which reflects their conservative breeding strategy. Winter ranges typically have shallow snow to reduce the energy costs of digging through snow to reach forage. The primary predators of muskoxen are arctic wolves , which may account for up to half of all mortality for the species. Other occasional predators, likely mainly predators of calves or infirm adults, can include grizzly bears and polar bears and wolverines . Muskox are heterothermic mammals, meaning they have

616-750: A local climate in which at least one month has an average temperature high enough to melt snow (0 °C (32 °F)), but no month with an average temperature in excess of 10 °C (50 °F). The cold limit generally meets the EF climates of permanent ice and snows ; the warm-summer limit generally corresponds with the poleward or altitudinal limit of trees, where they grade into the subarctic climates designated Dfd , Dwd and Dsd (extreme winters as in parts of Siberia ), Dfc typical in Alaska, Canada, mountain areas of Scandinavia , European Russia , and Western Siberia (cold winters with months of freezing). Despite

693-465: A period of isolation and expanded later, replacing the remaining populations of Praeovibos . Two more Praeovibos -like genera were named in America in the 19th century, Bootherium and Symbos , which are now identified as the male and female forms of a single, sexually dimorphic species, the "woodland muskox", Bootherium bombifrons . Bootherium inhabited open woodland areas of North America during

770-506: A railway over Dovrefjell found two fossil muskox vertebrae. This led to the idea of introducing muskoxen to Norway from Greenland. The first release in the world was made on Gurskøy outside Ålesund in 1925–26. They were muskoxen caught by Norwegian seal-hunting boats in Greenland. The animals colonized the island, but eventually died out there. An attempt to introduce the muskox to Svalbard also failed. Seventeen animals were released in 1929 by Adventfjorden on West Spitsbergen . In 1940,

847-766: 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. The mating (or "rutting") 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 about 20 m (66 ft), lower their heads, and charge into each other, and will keep doing so until one bull gives up. Subordinate and elderly bulls will leave

SECTION 10

#1733085125700

924-620: Is a hoofed mammal of the family Bovidae . Native to the Arctic , it is noted for its thick coat and for the strong odor emitted by males during the seasonal rut , from which its name derives. This musky odor has the effect of attracting females during mating season . Its Inuktitut name "umingmak" translates to "the bearded one". Its Woods Cree names "mâthi-môs" and "mâthi-mostos" translate to "ugly moose" and "ugly bison", respectively. In historic times, muskoxen primarily lived in Greenland and

1001-479: Is a risk of wildfire, such as the 1,039 km (401 sq mi) of tundra which burned in 2007 on the north slope of the Brooks Range in Alaska. Such events may both result from and contribute to global warming. Carbon emissions from permafrost thaw contribute to the same warming which facilitates the thaw, making it a positive climate change feedback . The warming also intensifies Arctic water cycle , and

1078-449: Is characterized by plants that grow close to the ground, including perennial grasses , sedges , forbs , cushion plants , mosses , and lichens . The flora is adapted to the harsh conditions of the alpine environment, which include low temperatures, dryness, ultraviolet radiation, and a short growing season. Tundra climates ordinarily fit the Köppen climate classification ET , signifying

1155-597: Is expected in such a small population which originated from only a few introduced animals. In addition to the population on Dovrefjell, the University of Tromsø had some animals on Ryøya  [ de ] outside Tromsø until 2018. Muskoxen were introduced to Svalbard in 1925–26 and 1929, but this population died out in the 1970s. They were also introduced in Iceland around 1930 but did not survive. In Russia , animals imported from Banks and Nunivak were released in

1232-512: Is highly prized for its softness, length, and insulation value. Prices for yarn range between $ 1.5 and $ 3/g ($ 40 and $ 80/oz). A muskox can reach speeds of up to 60  km/h (37 mph). Their life expectancy is between 12 and 20 years. During the Pleistocene period, muskoxen were much more widespread. Fossil evidence shows that they lived across the Siberian and North American Arctic, from

1309-771: Is home to several peoples who are mostly nomadic reindeer herders, such as the Nganasan and Nenets in the permafrost area (and the Sami in Sápmi ). Arctic tundra contains areas of stark landscape and is frozen for much of the year. The soil there is frozen from 25 to 90 cm (10 to 35 in) down, making it impossible for trees to grow there. Instead, bare and sometimes rocky land can only support certain kinds of Arctic vegetation , low-growing plants such as moss, heath ( Ericaceae varieties such as crowberry and black bearberry ), and lichen . There are two main seasons, winter and summer, in

1386-462: Is in the subtribe Ovibovina (or tribe Ovibovini) in the tribe Caprini (or subfamily Caprinae) of the subfamily Antilopinae in the family Bovidae. It is therefore more closely related to sheep and goats than to oxen ; it is placed in its own genus, Ovibos ( Latin : "sheep-ox"). It is one of the two largest extant members of the caprines, along with the similarly sized Takin Budorcas . While

1463-630: Is light, evaporation is also relatively minimal. During the summer, the permafrost thaws just enough to let plants grow and reproduce, but because the ground below this is frozen, the water cannot sink any lower, so the water forms the lakes and marshes found during the summer months. There is a natural pattern of accumulation of fuel and wildfire which varies depending on the nature of vegetation and terrain. Research in Alaska has shown fire-event return intervals (FRIs) that typically vary from 150 to 200 years, with dryer lowland areas burning more frequently than wetter highland areas. The biodiversity of tundra

1540-694: Is low: 1,700 species of vascular plants and only 48 species of land mammals can be found, although millions of birds migrate there each year for the marshes. There are also a few fish species. There are few species with large populations. Notable plants in the Arctic tundra include blueberry ( Vaccinium uliginosum ), crowberry ( Empetrum nigrum ), reindeer lichen ( Cladonia rangiferina ), lingonberry ( Vaccinium vitis-idaea ), and Labrador tea ( Rhododendron groenlandicum ). Notable animals include reindeer (caribou), musk ox , Arctic hare , Arctic fox , snowy owl , ptarmigan , northern red-backed voles , lemmings ,

1617-599: Is often compared, can weigh up to twice as much. However, heavy zoo-kept specimens have weighed up to 650 kg (1,430 lb). Their coat, a mix of black, gray and brown, includes long guard hairs that almost reach the ground. Rare "white muskoxen" have been spotted in the Queen Maud Gulf Bird Sanctuary . Muskoxen are occasionally semi-domesticated for wool, and rarely for meat and milk. The U.S. state of Alaska has several muskoxen farms specifically aimed at wool harvesting. The wool , called qiviut ,

SECTION 20

#1733085125700

1694-404: Is similar to polar climate . Alpine tundra is generally better drained than arctic soils. Alpine tundra transitions to subalpine forests below the tree line; stunted forests occurring at the forest-tundra ecotone (the treeline ) are known as Krummholz . Alpine tundra can be affected by woody plant encroachment . Alpine tundra occurs in mountains worldwide. The flora of the alpine tundra

1771-415: Is therefore an example of convergent evolution . The modern muskox is the last member of a line of ovibovines that first evolved in temperate regions of Asia and adapted to a cold tundra environment late in its evolutionary history. Muskox ancestors with sheep-like high-positioned horns (horn cores being mostly over the plane of the frontal bones , rather than below them as in modern muskoxen) first left

1848-516: The Bering Land Bridge two million years ago and prospered in the American southwest and Mexico . Euceratherium was larger yet more lightly built than modern muskoxen, resembling a giant sheep with massive horns, and preferred hilly grasslands. A genus with intermediate horns, Soergelia , inhabited Eurasia in the early Pleistocene, from Spain to Siberia, and crossed to North America during

1925-707: The Canadian Arctic of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut . They were formerly present in Eurasia, with their youngest natural records in the region dating to around 2,700 years ago, with reintroduced populations in the American state of Alaska , the Canadian territory of Yukon , and Siberia , and an introduced population in Norway , part of which emigrated to Sweden , where a small population now lives. The muskox

2002-609: The Dovre Railway . The population is divided into flocks in the Nystuguhø  [ no ] area, Kolla  [ no ] area and Hjerkinn . In the summer they move down towards Driva , where there are lush grass pastures. Although the muskox belongs to the dry Arctic grassland, it seems to do well on Dovrefjell. However, the pastures are marginal, with little grass available in winter (the muskox eats only plants, not lichen as reindeer do), and over time, inbreeding depression

2079-518: The Irvingtonian (1.8 million years to 240,000 years ago), soon after Euceratherium . Unlike Euceratherium , which survived in America until the Pleistocene- Holocene extinction event , Soergelia was a lowland dweller which disappeared fairly early, displaced by more advanced ungulates, such as the "giant muskox" Praeovibos (literally "before Ovibos "). The low-horned Praeovibos

2156-569: The Kerguelen Islands . Most of Antarctica is too cold and dry to support vegetation, and most of the continent is covered by ice fields or cold deserts. However, some portions of the continent, particularly the Antarctic Peninsula , have areas of rocky soil that support plant life. The flora presently consists of around 300–400 species of lichens, 100 mosses, 25 liverworts , and around 700 terrestrial and aquatic algae species, which live on

2233-658: The Scandinavian ice sheet and covered in tundra during cold periods, but Pleistocene muskoxen are also rarely recorded in more benign and wooded areas to the south like France and Green Spain , where they coexisted with temperate ungulates like red deer and aurochs . Likewise, the muskox is known to have survived in Britain during warm interglacial periods. Today's muskoxen are descended from others believed to have migrated from Siberia to North America between 200,000 and 90,000 years ago, having previously occupied Alaska (at

2310-877: The Southern United States and the western shrubland, respectively. Though they were always less common than other Ice Age megafauna, muskox abundance peaked during the Würm II glaciation 20,000 years ago and declined afterwards, especially during the Pleistocene / Holocene extinction event , where its range was greatly reduced and only the populations in North America survived. The last known muskox population in Europe died out in Sweden 9,000 years ago. In Asia, muskox persisted until just 615-555 BCE in Tumat , Sakha Republic . Following

2387-839: The Taymyr Peninsula in 1974 and 1975, and some from Nunivak were released in Wrangel Island in 1975. Both locations are north of the Arctic Circle . By 2019 the population on Wrangel Island was about 1100, and the Taymyr Peninsula, about 11,000–14,000. A few muskoxen herds migrated from the Taymyr Peninsula far to the south to the Putorana Plateau . Once established, these populations have been, in turn, used as sources for further reintroductions in Siberia between 1996 and 2010. One of

Newman Bay - Misplaced Pages Continue

2464-672: The Urals to Greenland . The ancestors of today's muskoxen came across the Bering Land Bridge to North America between 200,000 and 90,000 years ago. During the Wisconsinan , modern muskox thrived in the tundra south of the Laurentide Ice Sheet , in what is now the Midwest , the Appalachians and Virginia , while distant relatives Bootherium and Euceratherium lived in the forests of

2541-468: The mosquito , and even polar bears near the ocean. Tundra is largely devoid of poikilotherms such as frogs or lizards. Due to the harsh climate of Arctic tundra, regions of this kind have seen little human activity, even though they are sometimes rich in natural resources such as petroleum , natural gas , and uranium . In recent times this has begun to change in Alaska , Russia, and some other parts of

2618-517: The qiviut industry showed early success with the training of Inuit knitters and marketing, but it soon became clear that the Quebec government had never intended that the muskoxen be domestic, but had used INAR to capture muskoxen to provide a wild population for hunting . Government officials demanded that INAR leave Quebec and the farm be closed. Subsequently, 54 animals from the farm were released in three places in northern Quebec between 1973 and 1983, and

2695-568: The 1950s, an American researcher and adventurer was able to capture muskox calves in Northern Canada for relocation to a property he prepared in Vermont. One condition imposed by the Canadian government was that he was not allowed to kill adults defending their young. When nets and ropes proved useless, he and his crew herded family groups into open water, where calves were successfully separated from

2772-456: The Holocene in Siberia, with their youngest records in the region being from the Taymyr Peninsula , dating to around 2,700 years ago (~700 BC). Both male and female muskoxen have long, curved horns . Muskoxen stand 1.1 to 1.5 m (3 ft 7 in to 4 ft 11 in) high at withers , with females measuring 135 to 200 cm (4 ft 5 in to 6 ft 7 in) in length, and

2849-454: The Kolyma itself and elsewhere, including wild horses , reindeer, woolly mammoth and stag-moose . It is debated, however, if Praeovibos was directly ancestral to Ovibos , or both genera descended from a common ancestor, since the two occurred together during the middle Pleistocene. Defenders of ancestry from Praeovibos have proposed that Praeovibos evolved into Ovibos in one region during

2926-636: The Pleistocene, but also more genetically diverse . During that time, other populations of muskoxen lived across the Arctic, from the Ural Mountains to Greenland. By contrast, the current genetic makeup of the species is more homogenous. Climate fluctuation may have affected this shift in genetic diversity: research indicates colder periods in Earth's history are correlated with more diversity, and warmer periods with more homogeneity. Muskox populations survived into

3003-408: The ability to shut off thermal regulation in some parts of their body, like their lower limbs. Maintaining the lower limbs at a cooler temperature than the rest of their body helps reduce the loss of body heat from their extremities. Muskox display the unique characteristic of having hemoglobin that is three times less temperature sensitive than human hemoglobin. This temperature insensitivity allows

3080-460: The adults. Once airfreighted to Montreal and trucked to Vermont, the young animals habituated to the temperate conditions. Although the calves thrived and grew to adulthood, parasite and disease resistance problems impaired the overall success of the effort. The surviving herd was eventually moved to a farm in Palmer, Alaska , where it has been successful since the mid-1950s. In 1913, workers building

3157-583: The areas of exposed rock and soil around the shore of the continent. Antarctica's two flowering plant species, the Antarctic hair grass ( Deschampsia antarctica ) and Antarctic pearlwort ( Colobanthus quitensis ), are found on the northern and western parts of the Antarctic Peninsula. In contrast with the Arctic tundra, the Antarctic tundra lacks a large mammal fauna, mostly due to its physical isolation from

Newman Bay - Misplaced Pages Continue

3234-561: The atmosphere, creating a feedback cycle that changes climate. The term is a Russian word adapted from the Sámi languages . Arctic tundra occurs in the far Northern Hemisphere , north of the taiga belt. The word "tundra" usually refers only to the areas where the subsoil is permafrost , or permanently frozen soil. (It may also refer to the treeless plain in general so that northern Sápmi would be included.) Permafrost tundra includes vast areas of northern Russia and Canada. The polar tundra

3311-469: 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 tap

3388-483: The climate system activated around 2 °C (3.6 °F) of global warming suggested that at this threshold, permafrost thaw would add a further 0.09 °C (0.16 °F) to global temperatures by 2100, with a range of 0.04–0.16 °C (0.07–0.29 °F) Antarctic tundra occurs on Antarctica and on several Antarctic and subantarctic islands, including South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and

3465-582: The disappearance of the Laurentide Ice Sheet , the muskox gradually moved north across the Canadian Arctic Archipelago , arriving in Greenland from Ellesmere Island at about 350 AD, during the late Holocene . Their arrival in northwestern Greenland probably occurred within a few hundred years of the arrival of the Dorset and Thule cultures in the present-day Qaanaaq area. Human predation around Qaanaaq may have restricted muskoxen from moving down

3542-522: The ecological conditions in the northern Labrador Peninsula are suitable for them. In 1967, 14 animals were captured near Eureka on Ellesmere Island by the Institute for Northern Agricultural Research (INAR) and brought to a farm in Old Fort Chimo Kuujjuaq , northern Quebec, for domestication to provide a local cottage industry based on qiviut , a fine natural fiber. The animals thrived and

3619-622: The existence of other ice-free areas in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago at the time is disputed. Along with the bison and the pronghorn , the muskox was one of a few species of Pleistocene megafauna in North America to survive the Pleistocene/ Holocene extinction event and live to the present day. The muskox is thought to have been able to survive the last glacial period by finding ice-free areas ( refugia ) away from prehistoric peoples. Fossil DNA evidence suggests that muskoxen were not only more geographically widespread during

3696-510: The herd numbered 50, but in the 1970s, the whole herd disappeared. In September 1932, polar researcher Adolf Hoel conducted another experiment, importing 10 muskoxen to Dovrefjell. This herd survived until World War II , when they were hunted and exterminated. In 1947 and later, new animals were released. A small group of muskoxen from Dovrefjell migrated across the national border to Sweden in 1971 and established themselves in Härjedalen , whereby

3773-417: The herds to form bachelor groups or become solitary. However, when danger is present, the outside bulls can return to the herd for protection. Dominant bulls will prevent cows from leaving their harems. During mating, a bull will tap an estrous cow with his foreleg to calm her down and make her more receptive to his advances. The herds reassemble when summer ends. While the bulls are more aggressive during

3850-488: The increased amounts of warmer rain are another factor which increases permafrost thaw depths. The IPCC Sixth Assessment Report estimates that carbon dioxide and methane released from permafrost could amount to the equivalent of 14–175 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide per 1 °C (1.8 °F) of warming. For comparison, by 2019, annual anthropogenic emission of carbon dioxide alone stood around 40 billion tonnes. A 2018 perspectives article discussing tipping points in

3927-406: The larger males 200 to 250 cm (6 ft 7 in to 8 ft 2 in). The small tail, often concealed under a layer of fur, measures only 10 cm (3.9 in) long. Adults, on average, weigh 285 kg (628 lb), but can range from 180 to 410 kg (400 to 900 lb). The thick coat and large head suggest a larger animal than the muskox truly is; the bison, to which the muskox

SECTION 50

#1733085125700

4004-596: The last of these actions was the release of six animals within the Pleistocene Park project area in the Kolyma River in 2010, where a team of Russian scientists led by Sergey Zimov aims to prove that muskoxen, along with other Pleistocene megafauna that survived into the early Holocene in northern Siberia, did not disappear from the region due to climate change, but because of human hunting. Ancient muskox remains have never been found in eastern Canada , although

4081-991: The late 1900s was mostly conservative hunting quotas to foster recovery and recolonization from the historic declines. The current world population of muskoxen is estimated at between 80,000 and 125,000, with an estimated 47,000 living on Banks Island . In Greenland, there are no major threats. However, populations are often small in size and scattered; this makes them vulnerable to local fluctuations in climate. Most populations are within national parks, where they are protected from hunting. Muskoxen occur in four of Greenland's protected areas, with indigenous populations in Northeast Greenland National Park and introduced populations in Arnangarnup Qoorua Nature Reserve and Kangerlussuaq and Maniitsoq Caribou Reserves . In these areas, muskoxen receive full protection. Muskoxen are being domesticated for

4158-667: The late Pleistocene, from Alaska to Texas and maybe even Mexico, but was most common in the Southern United States , while Ovibos replaced it in the tundra-steppe to the north, immediately south of the Laurentian ice sheet . Modern Ovibos appeared in Germany almost one million years ago and was common in the region through the Pleistocene. By the Mindel, muskoxen had also reached the British Isles . Both Germany and Britain were just south of

4235-690: The muskox onto Nunivak Island in 1935 to support subsistence living. Other reintroduced populations are in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge , Bering Land Bridge National Preserve , Yukon 's Ivvavik National Park , a wildlife conservation center in Anchorage , Aulavik National Park in Northwest Territories , Kanuti National Wildlife Refuge , Gates of the Arctic National Park , and Whitehorse, Yukon 's wildlife preserve. There have been at least two domestication endeavours. In

4312-523: The muskox's hemoglobin to have a heightened oxygen affinity in an extremely cold environment and continue to diffuse high amounts of oxygen into its cold tissues. Muskoxen live in herds of 12–24 in the winter and 8–20 in the summer when dominant bulls expel other males from the herd. They do not hold territories, but they do mark their trails with preorbital glands . Male and female muskoxen have separate age-based hierarchies, with mature oxen being dominant over juveniles. Dominant oxen tend to get access to

4389-444: The next year. When calving, cows stay in the herd for protection. Muskox are precocial , and calves can 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. Muskoxen have

4466-478: The only subantarctic orchids; the royal penguin ; and the Antipodean albatross . There is some ambiguity on whether Magellanic moorland , on the west coast of Patagonia , should be considered tundra or not. Phytogeographer Edmundo Pisano called it tundra ( Spanish : tundra Magallánica ) since he considered the low temperatures key to restrict plant growth. More recent approaches have since recognized it as

4543-607: The other continents. Sea mammals and sea birds, including seals and penguins, inhabit areas near the shore, and some small mammals, like rabbits and cats, have been introduced by humans to some of the subantarctic islands. The Antipodes Subantarctic Islands tundra ecoregion includes the Bounty Islands , Auckland Islands , Antipodes Islands , the Campbell Island group , and Macquarie Island . Species endemic to this ecoregion include Corybas dienemus and Corybas sulcatus ,

4620-413: The polar tundra areas. During the winter it is very cold, dark, and windy with the average temperature around −28 °C (−18 °F), sometimes dipping as low as −50 °C (−58 °F). However, extreme cold temperatures on the tundra do not drop as low as those experienced in taiga areas further south (for example, Russia's, Canada's, and Alaska's lowest temperatures were recorded in locations south of

4697-522: The potential diversity of climates in the ET category involving precipitation, extreme temperatures, and relative wet and dry seasons, this category is rarely subdivided, although, for example, Wainwright, Alaska can be classified ETw and Provideniya, Russia ETs , with most of the rest of the tundra fitting into the ETf subcategory. Rainfall and snowfall are generally slight due to the low vapor pressure of water in

SECTION 60

#1733085125700

4774-539: The production of qiviut . Tundra In physical geography , tundra ( / ˈ t ʌ n d r ə , ˈ t ʊ n -/ ) is a type of biome where tree growth is hindered by frigid temperatures and short growing seasons. There are three regions and associated types of tundra: Arctic tundra, alpine tundra , and Antarctic tundra. Tundra vegetation is composed of dwarf shrubs , sedges , grasses , mosses , and lichens . Scattered trees grow in some tundra regions. The ecotone (or ecological boundary region) between

4851-426: The region. During the summer, muskoxen live in wet areas, such as river valleys, moving to higher elevations in the winter to avoid deep snow. Muskoxen will eat grasses, arctic willows , woody plants, lichens (above lichens are excluded from the menu) , and mosses. When food is abundant, they prefer succulent and nutritious grasses in an area. Willows are the most commonly eaten plants in the winter. Muskoxen require

4928-487: The remaining were ceded to local zoos . Between 1983 and 1986, the released animals increased from 148 to 290, at a rate of 25% per year, and by 2003, an estimated 1,400 muskoxen were in Quebec. Additionally, 112 adults and 25 calves were counted in the nearby Diana Island in 2005, having arrived there by their own means from the mainland. Vagrant adults are sometimes spotted in Labrador , though no herds have been observed in

5005-511: The rutting season and lead their 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 often when cows are lactating, to let them 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

5082-624: The secretion. The odor of dominant rutting males is described as "strong" and "rank". It derives from the preputial gland and is distributed over the fur of the abdomen via urine. Analysis of extract of washes of the prepuce revealed the presence of benzoic acid and p -cresol , along with a series of straight-chain saturated hydrocarbons from C 22 H 46 to C 32 H 66 (with C 24 H 50 being most abundant). Muskoxen are not known to be aggressive. Fatal attacks are extremely rare, but humans who have come close and behaved aggressively have occasionally been attacked. On 22 July 1964,

5159-528: The southwestern side and Cape Brevoort on the northeastern. There are a few small islands in the inner reaches midway between the mouth and its head. Several small streams empty into the fjord, as well as a glacier at its head which discharges from the Greenland Ice Cap . This article about a fjord in Greenland is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Muskoxen Generic: Specific: The muskox ( Ovibos moschatus )

5236-444: The subject of habitat conservation programs. In Canada and Russia, many of these areas are protected through a national Biodiversity Action Plan . Tundra tends to be windy, with winds often blowing upwards of 50–100 km/h (30–60 mph). However, it is desert-like, with only about 150–250 mm (6–10 in) of precipitation falling per year (the summer is typically the season of maximum precipitation). Although precipitation

5313-463: The takin and muskox were once considered possibly closely related, the takin lacks common ovibovine features, such as the muskox's specialized horn morphology, and genetic analysis shows that their lineages actually separated early in caprine evolution. Instead, the muskox's closest living relatives appear to be the gorals of the genus Naemorhedus , nowadays common in many countries of central and east Asia. The vague similarity between takin and muskox

5390-473: The temperate forests for the developing grasslands of Central Asia during the Pliocene , expanding into Siberia and the rest of northern Eurasia . Later migration waves of Asian ungulates that included high-horned muskoxen reached Europe and North America during the first half of the Pleistocene . The first well known muskox, the "shrub-ox" Euceratherium , crossed to North America over an early version of

5467-577: The time united to Siberia and isolated periodically from the rest of North America by the union of the Laurentide and Cordilleran Ice Sheets during colder periods) between 250,000 and 150,000 years ago. After migrating south during one of the warmer periods of the Illinoian glaciation , non-Alaskan American muskoxen would be isolated from the rest in the colder periods. The muskox was already present in its current stronghold of Banks Island 34,000 years ago, but

5544-412: The tree line). During the summer, temperatures rise somewhat, and the top layer of seasonally-frozen soil melts, leaving the ground very soggy. The tundra is covered in marshes, lakes, bogs, and streams during the warm months. Generally daytime temperatures during the summer rise to about 12 °C (54 °F) but can often drop to 3 °C (37 °F) or even below freezing. Arctic tundras are sometimes

5621-481: The tundra and the forest is known as the tree line or timberline. The tundra soil is rich in nitrogen and phosphorus . The soil also contains large amounts of biomass and decomposed biomass that has been stored as methane and carbon dioxide in the permafrost , making the tundra soil a carbon sink . As global warming heats the ecosystem and causes soil thawing, the permafrost carbon cycle accelerates and releases much of these soil-contained greenhouse gases into

5698-508: The west coast, and instead kept them confined to the northeastern fringes of the island. In modern times, muskoxen were restricted to the Arctic areas of Northern Canada, Greenland, and Alaska. The Alaskan population was wiped out in the late 19th or early 20th century. Their depletion has been attributed to excessive hunting, but an adverse change in climate may have contributed. However, muskoxen have since been reintroduced to Alaska. The United States Fish and Wildlife Service introduced

5775-681: The west lies Hall Land with the Polaris Foreland in the shore near its mouth and to the east Nyeboe Land , both largely unglaciated areas. Nina Bang Mountain rises to the east of the fjord and the Haug Range , with Kayser Mountain , to the SW of its shores. The fjord's mouth is located close to the entrance of the Robeson Channel in the Lincoln Sea, Arctic Ocean ; Cape Sumner is the headland on

5852-588: The world: for example, the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug produces 90% of Russia's natural gas. A severe threat to tundra is global warming , which causes permafrost to thaw. The thawing of the permafrost in a given area on human time scales (decades or centuries) could radically change which species can survive there. It also represents a significant risk to infrastructure built on top of permafrost, such as roads and pipelines. In locations where dead vegetation and peat have accumulated, there

5929-726: Was present in Europe and the Mediterranean 1.5 million years ago, colonized Alaska and the Yukon one million years ago and disappeared half a million years ago. Praeovibos was a highly adaptable animal apparently associated with cold tundra ( reindeer ) and temperate woodland ( red deer ) faunas alike. During the Mindel glaciation 500,000 years ago, Praeovibos was present in the Kolyma river area in eastern Siberia in association with many Ice Age megafauna that would later coexist with Ovibos , in

#699300