The following is my translation of an article called: Zähmung von Moschusochsen von LE Björkman. It appeared in a German popular science magazine, Kosmos Handweiser für Naturfreunde 1909, Heft 4, Seiten 114-115. Some of the views are out of date, which is none too surprising. I'm not aware of any previous translation.
Trevor Dykes.

Taming the Musk ox by LE Björkman

In his interesting book, 'Straußenpolitik', Dr Th. Zell writes on page 24: "As with the Cape buffalo nobody has yet tried to tame the North American buffalo, let alone the Musk ox." It appears the author was unfamiliar with attempts to tame Musk oxen in Sweden. As these efforts are little known in Germany, it may perhaps be of interest to the Kosmos community to receive a report here.

High up in the north of Greenland, on the extreme northern coasts of North America and on the coastal islands, lives an unusual species of cattle, the Musk ox (Ovibos moschatus Zimmerm.). As its Latin name indicates, it is seen as a link between cattle and sheep. Its appearance is naturally more reminiscent of an ox, but the uncommonly short, thickly haired tail, the white and, as with sheep, haired nose, the high, bump-like Widderist (?) and the irregularly shaped hoofs lend it a unique appearance, and this is enhanced by the abnormally long hair which almost reaches the ground. Excepting for the white feet and nose, the brown coloured Musk ox is a bit smaller than a domestic cow. The white of the head and feet is wider spread on the Greenland Musk ox than on the North American one. The roots of the horns first point downwards but they then turn out and finally up and, for the bull, they reach together across the forehead, but not for the cow; the latter has only two teats. This is in accordance with a very slow rate of reproduction of this remarkable animal, whose food consists of the leaves and shoots of a species of willow grass (Salix arctica) and so on, but never of moss or lichen. The Musk ox has a tolerant and peaceful character; but, should old bulls have been shot at, then they can be very dangerous for the hunter. The Musk ox has received its Latin name because the meat is said to smell and taste of musk. However, Professor GA Rathorst says that a musky flavour is not noticeable if the slaughtered animal is immediately gutted. Kolthoff thinks the flesh of the bull does taste of musk, but only during the courting season. Mirtsching maintains that the extreme cold of winter gives the meat an unpleasant aroma and taste; only the head and kidneys are always unpleasant.

Rathorst, who had the opportunity to undertake a research voyage to the east coast of Greenland with the 'Antarctica' in 1899, hunted Musk ox there and wrote upon his return: "One cannot study the Musk ox in East Greenland without coming to the thought, that this animal is suitable to be acclimatised in Lapland. It seems to be warm and can tolerate mosquitoes better than reindeer, and can also defend itself better against wolves. Its unusually fine winter wool, which moults each summer, its hide and flesh, would make the Musk ox a valuable domestic animal. German researchers report that the milk of the cow is on a par with the best European cow's milk. Given its tolerance, the taming should meet no great difficulties, at least with the calves."

These words of Rathorst's had the consequence that, when Konsul Broms organised an expedition to East Greenland at his own expense a year later under the leadership of the conservator, Dr Gustav Kolthoss, he gave him the duty of capturing calves of the Musk oxen if possible, and bringing them back to Sweden. The realisation of this plan was blessed. An old Musk ox cow was shot on August 18th, and her calf was encircled and caught. Its feet were then bound together and it was carried on board, where it was placed into a specially built cage for this purpose after its binds had been released. At first, the animal was very aggressive, charged angrily at all who came into its vicinity, and finally released its aggression against a sack filled with hay, against which it charged relentlessly like a ram goat and gave it powerful butts. Hjalmar, as the crew christened the male calf, soon quietened down and, after a few hours, was ready to eat. Four days later, another living calf was captured, it behaved similarly and received the name Lotta.

"Hjalmar was," said Kolthoss, "already as tame as a dog. He followed us around the whole deck and felt most at home in the kitchen, where he stayed when it was hotter than I could bear. On the morning after the capture of Lotta, she was already so tame that she ate from the hand. She attacked her companion at first, but they were soon inseparable friends."

On September 3rd the expedition landed in Drontheim. The calves were taken to Holmfors, land of Konsul Broms just below 60° latitude north, and set into an enclosure. An open stall stood within the fencing in which the animals could seek shelter; they did this, however, only by rainy weather which they obviously found unpleasant and intolerable. They felt happiest in cold and snow, but they were not especially put out by summer warmth as, during the spring, they lost their thick strands of silky winter wool, and only kept the long upper hairs. An unusually warm summer and two rainy ones have been spent in Sweden by the animals, and they do not seem to mind the climate at all.

The calves received dry leaves and oats as food in the winter, and fine grass, fresh leaves and oats in summer. They enjoyed clover hay. Leaves provided them with a welcome and tolerable foodstuff and, in order to obtain it, they often broke down young trees and ate them. They even treated needle trees in the same way, although perhaps from pure bravado, as they proved to be forest wreckers. They enjoyed bathing during summer months in the river which flowed through the paddock. Otherwise, they were little concerned with cleanliness and only their hooves caused some difficulties. These grew very quickly so as to compensate for their rapid wear on the hard frozen ground of their homeland. However, as the ground of Northern Sweden is soft during the summer, the hooves were not used up quickly enough, and they often had to be worked down.

At the age of about 3 years, the animals were apparently adult. But Lotta died at the end of November 1903. She had always looked somewhat weak, and of a thin and small build. The autopsy revealed the cause of death was a chronic illness of the liver. During her lifetime, Lotta was always kind and good-natured whereas the very powerful bull was bad tempered.

In the same year that Hjalmar and Lotta arrived in Holmfors, namely in 1900, the great merchant, GF Liljewalch, bought 4 Musk ox calves in Stockholm from a Norwegian captain, and they were taken to Mr L's property of Medstugen in Jamtland (below 63° latitude north). One had already been damaged at capture and it soon died; 2 others fell victim to a local epidemic in 1902. The surviving female calf, on the other hand, developed into a beautiful and apparently healthy and powerful animal. As, from all the Musk ox calves imported into Sweden, only this young cow and the bull Hjalmar remained, it was decided to take the latter from Holmfors to Medstugan in order to breed from them. Unfortunately, the bull was so badly weakened by the 450km long journey that, despite great care, he perished shortly after his arrival. And, on December 20th 1904, the last cow also left for the eternal hunting grounds.

The acclimatisation of Musk oxen did not work, while taming them posed few difficulties. But even had the experiments been successful, then not much would have been gained concerning the practical and agricultural worth, as it seems clearly demonstrated that Musk oxen can never replace the reindeer. It does not eat lichen, which provides the main food for the unfussy reindeer, it is very selective about what it eats and is also a destroyer of forests. From the scientific perspective, in contrast, the unsuccessful acclimatisation experiments would naturally have been of great interest.

An index of more of my translations of old Kosmos articles can be found at:

Kosmos Translations Archive
kosmostranslations.htm

A number of Mesozoic (and post-Mesozoic) location summaries can be found at Localities.