Editing Muskox (section)

=== Reintroductions in Eurasia ===
[[File:Muskox (Ovibos moschatus) male Dovrefjell 6.jpg|thumb|Male in [[Dovrefjell–Sunndalsfjella National Park]], Norway]]

In 1913, workers building 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 [[Gurskøya]], near [[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, 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 a Swedish herd was established.{{citationneeded|date=October 2024}}

The Norwegian population on Dovrefjell is managed over an area of {{cvt|340|km2|sqmi}} 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 the [[Dovre Railway]]. The population is divided into flocks in the {{ill|Nystuguhø|no|Nystugguhøa}} area, {{ill|Kolla (Norway)|lt=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 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 {{ill|Ryøya|de|Ryøy}} outside [[Tromsø]] until 2018.{{citation needed|date=June 2021}}

Muskoxen were introduced to [[Svalbard]] in 1925–26 and 1929, but this population died out in the 1970s.<ref>Aulagnier, S. et al. (2008) Guide des mammifères d'Europe, d'Afrique du Nord et de Moyen-Orient. Delachaux et Niestlé, Paris</ref> They were also introduced in [[Iceland]] around 1930 but did not survive.<ref>Zabrodin, V.A., and G.D. Yakushkin. [http://www.fao.org/docrep/009/ah759e/AH759E19.htm "Chapter 10: Musk-Oxen."] From ''Animal Genetic Resources of the USSR'', edited by N.G Dmitriev and L.K Ernst. Rome: [[FAO]], 1989.</ref>

In [[Russia]], animals imported from Banks and Nunivak were released in 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,<ref name="muskoxRF">{{cite web |url=http://xn--90abjvq3cwb.xn--p1ai/i-chelovek/gde-v-rossii-mozhno-uvidet-ovcebyka |title=Where in Russia Can You See a Muskox? Overview of the habits and maintenance of muskoxen at the beginning of 2019 |language=ru}}</ref> and the Taymyr Peninsula, about 11,000–14,000.<ref name="автоссылка1">{{cite web |url=http://www.ohotcontrol.ru/documents/publication/2016/%D0%9F%D0%B0%D0%B2%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%B2%20%D0%9F.%D0%9C.%20%D0%B8%20%D0%B4%D1%80.%20-%20%D0%A0%D0%B5%D0%B7%D1%83%D0%BB%D1%8C%D1%82%D0%B0%D1%82%D1%8B%20%D1%80%D0%B0%D1%81%D1%81%D0%B5%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B8%D1%8F%20%D0%BE%D0%B2%D1%86%D0%B5%D0%B1%D1%8B%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B2%20%D0%B2%20%D1%80%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%81%D0%B8%D0%B9%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B9%20%D0%90%D1%80%D0%BA%D1%82%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%B5%202016.pdf |title=II МЕЖДУНАРОДНАЯ, VII ВСЕРОССИЙСКАЯ НАУЧНО-ПРАКТИЧЕСКАЯ КОНФЕРЕНЦИЯ "СОСТОЯНИЕ СРЕДЫ ОБИТАНИЯ И ФАУНА ОХОТНИЧЬИХ ЖИВОТНЫХ РОССИИ И СОПРЕДЕЛЬНЫХ ТЕРРИТОРИЙ" |language=ru |website=www.ohotcontrol.ru |access-date=15 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181209124141/http://www.ohotcontrol.ru/documents/publication/2016/%D0%9F%D0%B0%D0%B2%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%B2%20%D0%9F.%D0%9C.%20%D0%B8%20%D0%B4%D1%80.%20-%20%D0%A0%D0%B5%D0%B7%D1%83%D0%BB%D1%8C%D1%82%D0%B0%D1%82%D1%8B%20%D1%80%D0%B0%D1%81%D1%81%D0%B5%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B8%D1%8F%20%D0%BE%D0%B2%D1%86%D0%B5%D0%B1%D1%8B%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B2%20%D0%B2%20%D1%80%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%81%D0%B8%D0%B9%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B9%20%D0%90%D1%80%D0%BA%D1%82%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%B5%202016.pdf |archive-date=9 December 2018 |trans-title=All-Russian Scientific and Practical Conference "Condition of the Habitat and Fauna Hunting Animals of Russia and Adjacent Territories" |url-status=dead}}</ref> A few muskoxen herds migrated from the Taymyr Peninsula far to the south to the [[Putorana Plateau]].<ref name="muskoxRF" /> Once established, these populations have been, in turn, used as sources for further reintroductions in Siberia between 1996 and 2010.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.lhnet.org/reintroduction-of-musk-ox-in-the-northern-russia/ |title=Reintroduction of Musk Ox on the Northern Russia |last=Sipko |first=Taras |website=Large Herbivore Network |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905102942/http://www.lhnet.org/reintroduction-of-musk-ox-in-the-northern-russia/ |archive-date=2015-09-05 |url-status=dead |access-date=2017-12-21}}</ref> One of 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,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.rhinoresourcecenter.com/pdf_files/131/1312936307.pdf |title=The North of Eastern Siberia: Refuge of Mammoth Fauna in Holocene |website=Rhino Resource Center |access-date=2020-04-11}}</ref> did not disappear from the region due to climate change, but because of human hunting.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/05/0517_050517_pleistocene.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050521020536/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/05/0517_050517_pleistocene.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=21 May 2005 |title=Pleistocene Park Underway: Home for Reborn Mammoths? |work=nationalgeographic.com}}</ref>