Earlier this month, I was invited to join a small group of fellow photographers on a trip to Nome, Alaska to see and photograph muskoxen, a species that has long been on my bucket list.
Muskoxen, which are magnificent but surprisingly small (males stand only 5 ft./1.5 m high), are members of the cattle family and are found only in the northern tundra regions of Alaska, Canada and Greenland. Sadly, and has all-too-often been the case with humans, they were overhunted almost to extinction by early explorers, fur traders and whalers. Extirpated in Alaska, they were reintroduced in the early 1930s through the translocation of animals from Greenland. In Canada, a hunting ban between 1917 and 1970, along with the establishment of the Thelon Game Sanctuary in the NWT, saved the species. However, despite a stable population, they are still threatened by resource extraction and other human activities.
Muskoxen live in small herds in summer and in larger groups during the winter. Herds tend to be loosely organized with a dominance hierarchy among bulls, cows and subadults. Their response to predators is interesting: when threatened, they all line up to face an adversary. If the threat escalates, they face outwards in a tight circle with the calves in the middle. If frightened too much, they stampede away, a habit that enables hunters and predators to take down the young and vulnerable individuals.
Muskox days are spent roaming across the vast tundra, alternating between feeding, then resting and ruminating. They tend to rest and ruminate on the open hillsides, then move into the lower shrubs to feed. We were amazed at how quickly they traveled across the panoramic terrain.
Fall is rut time, so we watched the dominant bulls continuously checking out their harems. Disappointingly, we didn’t witness any of the iconic head-bashing clashes that males will undertake when a dominate male is challenged by a newcomer.
We were lucky to have good weather for most of our trip, so our daily routine entailed driving in search of herds. If we found a herd feeding in the roadside shrubs, we photographed them from the safety of the vehicle. If they were off across the tundra, we would walk to a safe vantage point and sit quietly to observe and photograph.
Our visit coincided with peak fall colours, so we were also able to savour the staggering yellows and reds that lit up this vast and breathtaking landscape. An epic experience!
Myrna Pearman is the Resident Naturalist at Chin Ridge Seeds. She is a retired biologist, nature writer, photographer and author of several books. Her books are available at www.myrnapearman.com. She can be reached at myrna@myrnapearman.com.
