Editing Muskox (section)

{{Short description|Arctic land mammal}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2022}}
{{Speciesbox
| name               = Muskox
| fossil_range       = {{Fossil range|0.2|0}}<small>[[Middle Pleistocene]] – Holocene</small>
| image              = Muskox (Ovibos moschatus) male Dovrefjell 4.jpg
| image_caption      = in Dovrefjell National park, Norway
| status             = LC
| status_system      = IUCN3.1
| status_ref         =<ref name="iucn">{{cite iucn |author=Gunn, A. |author2=Forchhammer, M. |year=2022 |title=''Ovibos moschatus'' |volume=2022 |page=e.T29684A22149286 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2022-1.RLTS.T29684A22149286.en |access-date=19 December 2024}}</ref>
| status2 = G5
| status2_system = TNC
| status2_ref = <ref name="NatureServe">{{cite web|title=''Ovibos moschatus'' |url=https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.102769/Ovibos_moschatus|website=[[NatureServe]] Explorer|access-date=17 April 2024}}</ref>
| taxon              = Ovibos moschatus
| parent_authority   = [[Henri Marie Ducrotay de Blainville|Blainville]], 1816<ref>{{cite journal |last1=de Blainville |first1=M. H. |title=Sur plusieurs espèces d'animaux mammifères, de l'ordre des ruminans |journal=Bulletin des Sciences Par la Société Philomathique de Paris |volume=1816 |date=1816 |page=76 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/4153495 |quote=g. XI. ''Ovibos''}}</ref>
| authority          = ([[Eberhard August Wilhelm von Zimmermann|Zimmermann]], 1780)
| display_parents    = 2
| range_map          = Muskox distribution combined.png
| range_map_caption  = Range map: blue indicates areas where muskox reintroduction has been attempted in the 20th century; red indicates the previous established range.
| synonyms=Generic:
{{genus list|Bosovis|Kowarzik, 1911<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kowarzik |first1=K. |title=Das Tränenbein von ''Ovibos moschatus'' Blainv. |journal=Zoologischer Anzeiger |date=1911 |volume=37 |pages=106–107 |url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/9742465}}</ref>}}
Specific:
{{species list|Bos moschatus|Zimmermann, 1780<ref name="Zimmermann1780">{{cite book |last=Zimmermann |first=E.A.W. |title=Enthält ein vollständiges Verzeichnis aller bekannten Quadrupeden |series=Geographische Geschichte des Menschen, und der allgemein verbreiteten vierfüssigen Thiere |volume=2 |year=1780 |publisher=Weygandschen Buchhandlung |location=Leipzig |pages=86–88 |chapter=Der Muskusochse |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VcsOAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA86}}</ref>
| Bosovis moschatus|(Zimmermann, 1780) Kowarzik, 1911
| Ovibos pallantis|Hamilton-Smith, 1827<ref>Raufuss, I., & von Koenigswald, W. (1999). New remains of Pleistocene Ovibos moschatus from Germany and its geographic and stratigraphic occurrence in Europe. ''Geologie en Mijnbouw'', 78(3), 383-394.</ref>
}}
| synonyms_ref=<ref name="Lent 1988" />
}}

The '''muskox''' ('''''Ovibos moschatus'''''){{efn|in Latin "musky sheep-ox"}}{{efn|also spelled '''musk ox''' and '''musk-ox''', plural '''muskoxen''' or '''musk oxen''' (in {{langx|iu|ᐅᒥᖕᒪᒃ|translit=umingmak}}; in {{langx|cwd|ᒫᖨᒨᐢ|translit=mâthi-môs}}, {{langx|cwd|ᒫᖨᒧᐢᑐᐢ|translit=mâthi-mostos|label=none}})}} is a [[Ungulate|hoofed mammal]] of the family [[Bovidae]].<ref name="MSW3">{{MSW3 Artiodactyla | id = 14200813 | page = 707}}</ref> Native to the [[Arctic]], it is noted for its thick coat and for the strong odor emitted by males during the [[Rut (mammalian reproduction)|seasonal rut]], from which its name derives. This [[musk]]y odor has the effect of attracting females during [[Seasonal breeder|mating season]]. Its [[Inuktitut]] name "umingmak" translates to "the bearded one".<ref name="Flood1989">{{cite journal |last1=Flood |first1=P. F. |last2=Abrams |first2=S. R. |last3=Muir |first3=G. D. |last4=Rowell |first4=J. E. |title=Odor of the muskox |journal=[[Journal of Chemical Ecology]] | volume=15 |issue=8 |pages=2207–2217 |date=August 1989 |doi=10.1007/bf01014110 |pmid=24272381 |bibcode=1989JCEco..15.2207F |s2cid=8453835}}</ref>

Its [[Woods Cree]] names "mâthi-môs" and "mâthi-mostos" translate to "ugly moose" and "ugly bison", respectively.<ref name="Houston2003">{{cite book |last1=Houston |first1=Clarence Stuart |last2=Houston |first2=Stuart |last3=Ball |first3=Tim |last4=Houston |first4=Mary |date=October 2003 |title=Eighteenth-Century Naturalists of Hudson Bay |publisher=McGill-Queen's Press – MQUP |page=241 |isbn=978-0-7735-2285-5}}</ref> In historic times, muskoxen primarily lived in [[Greenland]] and the [[Northern Canada|Canadian Arctic]] of the [[Northwest Territories]] and [[Nunavut]].<ref>[http://www.greenland-guide.gl/animal_life.htm Animal Life in Greenland – an introduction by the tourist board] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120427231950/http://www.greenland-guide.gl/animal_life.htm |date=2012-04-27 }}. Greenland-guide.gl. Retrieved on 2011-09-15.</ref> They were formerly present in Eurasia, with their youngest natural records in the region dating to around 2,700 years ago,<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last1=Markova |first1=A.K. |last2=Puzachenko |first2=A.Yu. |last3=van Kolfschoten |first3=T. |last4=Kosintsev |first4=P.A. |last5=Kuznetsova |first5=T.V. |last6=Tikhonov |first6=A.N. |last7=Bachura |first7=O.P. |last8=Ponomarev |first8=D.V. |last9=van der Plicht |first9=J. |last10=Kuitems |first10=M. |date=August 2015 |title=Changes in the Eurasian distribution of the musk ox (''Ovibos moschatus'') and the extinct bison (''Bison priscus'') during the last 50 ka BP |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1040618215000427 |journal=Quaternary International |language=en |volume=378 |pages=99–110 |doi=10.1016/j.quaint.2015.01.020|bibcode=2015QuInt.378...99M |s2cid=140156564 }}</ref> with reintroduced populations in the [[U.S. state|American state]] of [[Alaska]], the [[Provinces and territories of Canada|Canadian territory]] of [[Yukon]], and [[Siberia]], and an introduced population in [[Norway]], part of which emigrated to [[Sweden]], where a small population now lives.