Editing Muskox (section)

== Social behavior and reproduction ==
[[File:MuskOxen.jpg|thumb|1000px|[[Nunivak Island]], Alaskan muskoxen in the 1930s, shown here in defensive formation]]

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.<ref name="Tener 1965">Tener, J. S. (1965). ''Muskoxen in Canada a biological and taxonomic review''. Ottawa: Queen's Printer.</ref> They do not hold territories, but they do mark their trails with [[preorbital gland]]s.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Owen-Smith, N. |year=1977 |title=On Territoriality in Ungulates and an Evolutionary Model |journal=The Quarterly Review of Biology |volume=52 |issue=1 |pages=1–38 |doi=10.1086/409720 |s2cid=85113457}}</ref> Male and female muskoxen have separate age-based hierarchies, with mature oxen being dominant over juveniles.<ref name="Tener 1965" /> Dominant oxen tend to get access to the best resources<ref name="Lent 1988" /> and will displace subordinates from patches of grass during the winter.<ref name="Tener 1965" /> 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.<ref name="Wilkinson 1976">{{cite journal |author=Wilkinson, P. F. |author2=Shank, C. C. |year=1976 |title=Rutting-fight Mortality among Musk Oxen on Banks Island, Northwest Territories, Canada |journal=Animal Behaviour |volume=24 |pages=756–758 |doi=10.1016/S0003-3472(76)80004-8 |issue=4 |s2cid=53187116}}</ref> Bulls will also roar, swing their heads, and paw the ground.<ref name="Lent 1988" /> Dominant bulls sometimes treat subordinate bulls like cows. A dominant bull will tap a subordinate with its foreleg, something they do to cows during mating.<ref name="Reinhardt 2005">{{cite journal |author=Reinhardt, V. |year=2005 |title=Courtship behavior among musk-ox males kept in confinement |journal=Zoo Biology |volume=4 |issue=3 |pages=295–300 |doi=10.1002/zoo.1430040311}}</ref> Dominant bulls will also mock copulate subordinates and sniff their genitals.<ref name="Reinhardt 2005" /> A subordinate bull can challenge his status by charging a dominant bull.<ref name="Gray 1986">{{cite journal |author=Gray, D. R. |year=1986 |title=Standing his ground: How the muskox survives the rigours of an Arctic winter |journal=Nature Canada |volume=15 |pages=19–26}}</ref>
[[File:Muskus.jpg|thumb|left|Muskox in [[Dovrefjell–Sunndalsfjella National Park|Dovrefjell-Sunndalsfjella National Park]], [[Norway]]]]
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.<ref name="Gray 1986" /> The bulls then back up about {{cvt|20|m|ft}}, lower their heads, and charge into each other, and will keep doing so until one bull gives up.<ref name="Wilkinson 1976" /> Subordinate and elderly bulls will leave the herds to form bachelor groups or become solitary.<ref name="Lent 1988" /> However, when danger is present, the outside bulls can return to the herd for protection.<ref name="Freeman 1971">{{cite journal |author=Freeman, M. |year=1971 |title=Population Characteristics of Musk-Oxen in the Jones Sound Region of the Northwest Territories |journal=Journal of Wildlife Management |volume=35 |issue=1 |pages=103–108 |doi=10.2307/3799877 |jstor=3799877}}</ref> Dominant bulls will prevent cows from leaving their harems.<ref name="Lent 1988" /> During mating, a bull will tap an estrous cow with his foreleg to calm her down and make her more receptive to his advances.<ref name="Reinhardt 2005" /> The herds reassemble when summer ends.<ref name="Freeman 1971" />

While the bulls are more aggressive during the rutting season and lead their groups, the females take charge during gestation.<ref name="Lent 1988" /> Pregnant females are aggressive and decide what distance the herd travels in a day and where they will bed for the night.<ref name="Jingfors 1982">{{cite journal |author=Jingfors, K. |year=1982 |title=Seasonal Activity Budgets and Movements of a Reintroduced Alaskan Muskox Herd |journal=Journal of Wildlife Management |volume=46 |issue=1 |pages=344–359 |doi=10.2307/3808645 |jstor=3808645}}</ref> The herds move more often when cows are lactating, to let them get enough food to nurse their offspring.<ref name="Jingfors 1982" /> 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 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.<ref name="Lent 1988" /> 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 a distinctive defensive behavior: when the herd is threatened, the adults will face outward to form a stationary ring or semicircle around the calves.<ref name="Miller 1980">{{cite journal |author=Miller, F. L. |author2=Gunn, A. |year=1980 |title=Behavioral Responses of Musk Ox to Simulation of Cargo Slinging by Helicopter, Northwest Territories |journal=Canadian Field-Naturalist |volume=94 |issue=1 |pages=52–60|doi=10.5962/p.347034 |doi-access=free }}</ref> The bulls are usually the front line for defense against predators, with the cows and juveniles gathering close to them.<ref name="Lent 1988" /> Bulls determine the defensive formation during rutting, while the cows decide the rest of the year.<ref name="Freeman 1971" />

=== Components of glandular secretions ===
[[File:Овцебыки - самые грозные млекопитающие Таймыра.jpg|thumb|Muskox on [[Bolshoy Begichev Island]], Russia]]
The preorbital gland secretion of muskoxen has a "light, sweetish, ethereal" odor.<ref name="Flood1989" /> Analysis of preorbital gland secretion extract showed the presence of [[cholesterol]] (which is nonvolatile), [[benzaldehyde]], a series of straight-chain saturated [[gamma-lactone|γ-lactones]] ranging from C<sub>8</sub>H<sub>14</sub>O<sub>2</sub> to C<sub>12</sub>H<sub>22</sub>O<sub>2</sub> (with C<sub>10</sub>H<sub>18</sub>O<sub>2</sub> being most abundant), and probably the monounsaturated γ-lactone C<sub>12</sub>H<sub>20</sub>O<sub>2</sub>.<ref name="Flood1989" /> The saturated γ-lactone series has an odor similar to that of the secretion.<ref name="Flood1989" />

The odor of dominant rutting males is described as "strong" and "rank".<ref name="Flood1989" /> It derives from the [[preputial gland]] and is [[Self-anointing in animals|distributed over the fur of the abdomen]] via urine. Analysis of extract of washes of the [[Penile sheath|prepuce]] revealed the presence of [[benzoic acid]] and [[P-cresol|''p''-cresol]], along with a series of [[Alkane#Linear alkanes|straight-chain saturated hydrocarbons]] from C<sub>22</sub>H<sub>46</sub> to C<sub>32</sub>H<sub>66</sub> (with C<sub>24</sub>H<sub>50</sub> being most abundant).<ref name="Flood1989" />

=== Danger to humans ===
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.<ref>[https://www.gi.alaska.edu/alaska-science-forum/musk-ox-versus-man Musk Ox Versus Man]</ref>

On 22 July 1964, a 73-year-old man was killed in a muskox attack in Norway. The animal was later killed by local authorities.<ref>[https://mynorwegianroots.no/muskox-norwegian-man-killed-in-1964-muskox-attack/ Norwegian man killed in 1964 muskox attack]</ref>

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.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-12-14 |title=Alaska officer killed in muskox attack outside his house |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/alaska-officer-killed-muskox-attack-house-rcna61640 |access-date=2023-12-19 |website=NBC News |language=en}}</ref>