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Musk oxen, Ovibos moschatus, are native to the Arctic areas of Canada, Greenland, and Alaska. The Alaska population was wiped out in the late nineteenth or early twentieth century, but muskoxen have since been reintroduced to Alaska. One look at a herd of Musk Oxen, and you wonder if you've traveled back in time to the Pleistocene, the age of Saber-toothed Tigers and Woolly Mammoths. Reportedly, these venerable beasts have existed since the last ice age, 600,000 years ago. With their distinctive curved horns and shaggy long hair, this 'Bison of the Tundra' roams the arctic river valleys of North America, Greenland, and the northern countries of Europe, grazing on grass, reeds, and sedges, using its cloven feet to dig beneath the snow to reach lichen and nutritious ground plants when necessary. |
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