| Endangered Species: Musk Ox |
Christiansburg Elementary School
Submitted by: Ivysaur Grade 5
Christiansburg,Virginia ,USA
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unknown |
Why Study This Topic?
I want to find out what Musk ox eat, and how
fast they can run. Are they an ox at all? I'm interested in this
animal because they are nearly extnct. Reports say that there aren't
many in Greenland., Only few are in Alaska because many poachers
want their fur. I want the musk ox to be around for along time.
I'm interested in how the musk ox eat. I'm also interested how the
musk ox live in the tundra habitat. In the summer the musk ox mate.
The musk ox are named by their smell when they mate. The musk ox
male weighs 900 lb. and a girl weighs 800 lbs. I'm interested in the arctic
animals because they have a very large habitat. I want the arctic animals
to not be hunted. I want to find out were they came from.
What Was Already Known
Before I searched I already knew that the Musk ox
lives in the Arctic, and I knew that the Musk ox were big animals. The
Musk ox background is that it lives in the Arctic biome, and its habitat
is is very muggy, wet, grassy, and sunny, and the musk ox's habitat varies
throughout the year. Its food habitat is mainly Arctic grasses, sedges,
reeds and other above ground plant material. The reason the Musk ox is
endangered is because people want its meat and its woolly coat, and its
fur to make scarves. The Musk ox's main predator is the wolf. Some
hunters hurt the Musk ox for there sharp horns. The male Musk ox forms
a big circle when wolves try to hurt the female and children. Today it
is illegal to kill Musk ox.
Search for Information
The place I searched was the Internet. There I got
on musk ox.com, and I looked in TheWorld Book Encyclopedia. I also
got on Yahoo, Yahooligans, and nature.ca. I searched on Searchasauras
and found some pictures, and some more information on the Musk ox.
There are a lot more places on the internet to
search for information on the Musk ox.
Description of Plant or Animal
The Musk ox has a big body. It weighs between
750 and 1,450 pounds. Its height is four feet, 5 inches tall.
It often grows to be eight feet tall. It's shaped is like a buffalo.
The Musk ox's color is brown. Its hair is long,
shaggy brown, and it has a thick undercoat to keep it warm in the
cold Arctic winter. The musk ox's thick coat protects it from swarms of
black flies and mosquitos.
The male Musk ox is larger than the female Musk
ox. The Musk ox are
related to sheep and goats, except shaggier and the Musk ox
weighs more than these
animals.
The Musk ox looks a little like Yaks or American
bison. The Musk ox has two
hollow horns.
The Musk ox calves sometimes have different colored
fur than some other Musk ox, including light brown.
Habitat Requirements
The Musk ox mainly eats: bushes, grass, sedges, reeds,
and other above ground plant material. It is a herbivore .The Musk ox breaks
ice to get unfrozen water to drink. The Musk ox's shelter is the tundra
biome. In the tundra biome, it is very muggy, wet, grassy,
and sunny. The Musk ox also lives in mountains, and in the summer it inhabits
wet places like lakes and river valleys. They always live in
cold places like Alaska and Greenland, and they live where there's some
snow on the ground. The Musk ox has a lot of space in the Arctic tundra,
and in cold and wet places.
Adaptations
The Musk ox's main predators are: wolves and Polar
bears. It can't defend itself against humans very well. The
Musk ox can really defend itself against Polar bears, and Arctic wolves.
The Musk ox's camaflouge can blend in with the snow after a sleet or snow
storm. The Musk ox can swallow something and get it back up and eat it
sometime later on. The Musk ox actually has two coats in one. That's a
Musk ox's characteristics.
Reasons for Endangerment
The Musk ox reason for endangerment is people
want there: fur, meat, and their horns. There are a few left
in the Arctic. The Musk ox's loss of habitat is from hunters over hunting
them. The Musk ox's water might get polluted by humans. The Musk ox's natural
population is more in Greenland than in Alaska. There are no Musk ox in
Antarctica. The history of the Musk ox is that if humans don't stop
hunting them they may never fully recover. Ever since they have came over
to America the Musk ox's population has been declining. The hunters want
the Musk ox's fur to keep the hunters warm. They also want
the meat to feed the hunters, and the horns to help the hunters carve.
The Musk ox can't defend them selves very well from the hunters. That's
the Musk's ox endangerment.
Restoration Actions
The actions taken to protect the
Musk ox are people are making laws to protect the Musk ox, and today it's
illegal to kill a Musk ox. The government might put the Musk ox in
a wildlife preserve to protect it. My ideas for the future are that people
will make hunters stop hunting the Musk ox.
What Was Learned
I learned that the Musk ox is almost extinct
because hunters hunt them. The Musk ox background is that it lives in the
Tundra biome it is very muggy, wet, grasses, sunny. The Musk ox does
feel threatened by humans.
Conclusions From Research
The Musk ox's research was easy to find. I think
that people should protect them from being killed and poached. People
are making laws to protect them from endangerment. The research skills
I learned to find information on the Musk ox were good. Some places didn't
have any information on the Musk ox. I am aware that the Musk
ox is endangered.
http://www.nature.ca
http://www.thelon.com
http://www.zoofegon.org
http://www.advunture.ca
Return to Mammal page.
If you would like to add to these Endangered Species
pages then email your contributions to Christiansburg
Elementary
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Christiansburg Elementary |
Last updated on January 25, 2000
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