Musk Oxen on Arctic Tundra

Musk Oxen on Arctic Tundra is an original illustration set in Kangerlussuaq Tundra, Greenland. It lies in the polar circle, where the climate is tundra — too cold for trees.

A compact herd crosses autumn tundra, the foreground animals showing low horn bosses, sweeping pale horns, massive shoulder humps and long skirts of hair reaching nearly to the ground. Dwarf shrubs have turned red and gold across the low ground behind.

Why does the muskox wear a long skirt of outer hair?

The long outer skirt covers a dense undercoat that is among the warmest natural fibres known — an animal that stands out a full Arctic winter without shelter. The horn bosses meeting across the forehead are for defence in a circle, which is how the herd responds to wolves. Ground vegetation only ankle-high, turning colour, marks tundra above the tree line at the end of a very short season.

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