Musk Ox Population Decline Due to Climate, Not Humans, Study Finds

Pennsylvania State University ^ | Mar 8, 2010 | Sara LaJeunesse?

[decimon]

A team of scientists has discovered that the drastic decline in Arctic musk ox populations that began roughly 12,000 years ago was due to a warming climate rather than to human hunting. "This is the first study to use ancient musk ox DNA collected from across the animal's former geographic range to test for human impacts on musk ox populations," said Beth Shapiro, the Shaffer Career Development assistant professor of biology at Penn State University and one of the team's leaders. "We found that, although human and musk ox populations overlapped in many regions across the globe, humans probably were not responsible for the decline and eventual extinction of musk oxen across much of their former range." The team's findings will be published in the 8 March 2010 issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Musk oxen once were plentiful across the entire Northern Hemisphere, but they now exist almost solely in Greenland and number only about 80,000 to 125,000. According to the researchers, musk oxen are not the only animals to suffer during the late Pleistocene Epoch. "The late Pleistocene was marked by rapid environmental change as well as the beginning of the spread of humans across the Northern Hemisphere," said Shapiro. "During that time several animals became extinct, including mammoths and woolly rhinoceroses, while others, including horses, caribou, and bison, survived into the present. The reasons for these drastically different survival patterns have been debated widely, with some scientists claiming that the extinctions were due largely to human hunting.

[decimon]

Gored ox ping.

[jedi150]

Musta been all that farting! Better put a TAX on it.

[Young Werther]

Alaska had been without Musk Oxen. In the summer of 1969 the Soviet Union gave a herd of 12 to the US for repopulating the North Slope. I was inspecting the DEW Line sites in Alaska and this news was mucho importonto!

At that time the North Shore oil wells were being drilled and the Eskimos had a difficult familial problem. The lease money allowed the to buy snowmobiles. They no longer needed their huskies! Keep them as pets or eat them. In most cases they had been with these Eskimo families for many decades so they decided to feed them!

[decimon]

In the summer of 1969 the Soviet Union gave a herd of 12 to the US for repopulating the North Slope.

Did that work?

[Young Werther]

I don’t know. A little reseach might help.

[decimon]

"This works well with wolves, but not against men with guns, and in fact led to the extinction of the Alaskan musk ox in the late 1800's. In 1930, 34 musk oxen captured in East Greenland were brought to Fairbanks and later transported to Nunivak Island and released to re-establish a musk ox population in Alaska. Musk oxen thrived on Nunivak Island and increased to an estimated 750 by 1968. In 1990, approximately 2,220 free-ranging musk oxen resided in Alaska."

http://www.tburg.k12.ny.us/mcdonald/muskox.htm

There are many stories in the Alaskan tundra. ;-)

[El Laton Caliente]

Yes, it worked. I’ve seen smaller herds here in Prudhoe Bay where I’m working. They make thier way through every year and number in the hundreds now...

[decimon]

Yes, it worked. I’ve seen smaller herds here in Prudhoe Bay where I’m working. They make thier way through every year and number in the hundreds now...

Thanks. must be an interesting sight.

[SunkenCiv]

Watch this become part of the AGW spindoctoring. Thanks decimon.

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The Cycle of Cosmic Catastrophes: Flood, Fire, and Famine in the History of Civilization by Richard Firestone, Allen West, and Simon Warwick-Smith

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[SunkenCiv]

Thanks decimon.

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[SunkenCiv]

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	Gods Graves Glyphs	Thanks decimon. A team of scientists has discovered that the drastic decline in Arctic musk ox populations that began roughly 12,000 years ago was due to a warming climate rather than to human hunting. To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother, and Ernest_at_the_Beach
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[El Laton Caliente]

This is one of the oil field roads up here (I’m in Prudue Bay as I type).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nPS1xs-U3I

[steelyourfaith]

Arf !

 

Beam me to Planet Gore !

[Bernard Marx]

"The late Pleistocene was marked by rapid environmental change as well as the beginning of the spread of humans across the Northern Hemisphere," said Shapiro.

Hmmm, do you suppose it was the environmental warming combined with the decline of ferocious animals like dire wolves, sabre-toothed tigers, etc. that allowed humans to move into these new territories? But that's probably a politically incorrect view.

[Cold Heart]

Must have worked. Alaska has a limited hunt fo ox.

[rdl6989]

12,000 years ago? Every cave man had a Hummer in those days, so I guess that proves the link between carbon emissions and global warming ™, right?

[steelyourfaith]

Ha ! No doubt. 8^)

[Young Werther]

faux fox?

I bought 20 white fox pelt at the Point Barrow country store for $150. I sent them home to my Mom in Joisey. She had a friend in NYC who took them in trade and gave my Mom a $1,500 mink coat.

I have a picture of some white fox who lived under the module train at one of the Alaskan DEW Line site. The cook fed them and they were pets. DEW Line regulations didn't allow pets but since they didn't come inside I just photographed them and never reported the faux pets!

[Cold Heart]

Fo ox, I’ll bet you think I forgot the “r”
I should have put an “i” there and then would have to come up with a receipe for ox liver :)