Join our zoo community

Muskox in North American Zoos

Discussion in 'United States' started by snowleopard, 7 Mar 2009.

  1. snowleopard

    snowleopard Well-Known Member 15+ year member Premium Member

    Joined:
    1 Dec 2007
    Posts:
    7,588
    Location:
    Abbotsford, B.C., Canada
    According to ISIS there are only 9 zoos with musk oxen in their collection in North America, and 6 of those are situated in Canada. Only the Point Defiance Zoo (2), Denver Zoo (2) and Minnesota Zoo (a large herd of possibly 10) keep muskox throughout the entire United States. Is it a coincidence that all three of those American zoos are within close proximity to snowy winters? Does this mean that muskox might suffer greatly in warm climate collections? Perhaps the need for cold weather, combined with the sheer size of the species, contributes to the fact that they are extremely rare in North American zoos.
     
  2. Ituri

    Ituri Well-Known Member 15+ year member

    Joined:
    5 Dec 2007
    Posts:
    2,933
    Location:
    USA
    San Diego tried keeping them in the 80's. I understand they didn't fare well. Although San Francisco has kept (and bred, I believe) them in the past, not sure how they did there. Portland is a reasonably temperate climate and they until recently kept the species as well.
     
  3. Meaghan Edwards

    Meaghan Edwards Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    20 Mar 2008
    Posts:
    1,294
    Location:
    Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
    Ungulate (a member here who is a zookeeper at the Toronto Zoo) said that they require very expensive fencing, hence why the zoo has decided to phase out the species. They were originally going to be placed in the new Tundra area that will be opening in the fall, but there were budget cuts. This could be another factor.
     
  4. groundskeeper24

    groundskeeper24 Well-Known Member 15+ year member

    Joined:
    16 Jul 2008
    Posts:
    627
    Location:
    Kentucky, USA
    I saw the San Francisco musk oxen years ago. It seemed to be an exhibit that they were very proud of. It surprised me quite a bit to hear they were gone. It was a good sized field exhibit for such an urban zoo. They were kept near where the gorilla exhibit is today on the edge of the zoo near the ocean. I was under the impression that they'd had them awhile.
     
  5. jusko88

    jusko88 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    13 Dec 2011
    Posts:
    967
    Location:
    Where the 3 Rivers Flow
    I thought one of the North Dakota Zoos exhibited Musk Ox???
     
  6. carlos77

    carlos77 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    5 Sep 2010
    Posts:
    205
    Location:
    mexico,d.f.mexico
    Brookfield zoo held musk ox in the early eighties. I also remembered seeing musk ox at the san francisco zoo quite a few years ago. Imagine my amazement to see a fine breeding herd at the Berlin tierpark, which has every animal possible except apes. Have to go to zootierliste to check, but i suspect nothern european collections have some musk ox herds.
     
  7. ThylacineAlive

    ThylacineAlive Well-Known Member 10+ year member

    Joined:
    20 Oct 2012
    Posts:
    10,699
    Location:
    Connecticut, U.S.A.
    The Alaska Zoo has Muskox I believe. I'd expect they'd do fantastically well there.

    ~Thylo:cool:
     
  8. Gulo gulo

    Gulo gulo Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    7 Apr 2012
    Posts:
    938
    Location:
    northern forest
    Minnesota Zoo has a herd of nine Muskoxen.
     
  9. Pleistohorse

    Pleistohorse Well-Known Member 10+ year member

    Joined:
    30 Jan 2013
    Posts:
    1,024
    Location:
    Alaska
    Alaska Zoo and Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center each have Muskoxen.
     
  10. Pleistohorse

    Pleistohorse Well-Known Member 10+ year member

    Joined:
    30 Jan 2013
    Posts:
    1,024
    Location:
    Alaska
    Non-AZA facilities.
     
  11. elefante

    elefante Well-Known Member 10+ year member

    Joined:
    12 Aug 2009
    Posts:
    2,139
    Location:
    North Dakota, USA
    Tacoma does not have snowy winters like Minneapolis and Denver, but the muskoxen seemed to be doing well when I saw them there. Minneapolis has very hot summers although they didn't seem to be suffering when I saw them there years ago. I had read somewhere that muskoxen were being phased out of North American zoos in favor of Sichuan takins.
     
  12. ungulate nerd

    ungulate nerd Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    5 Aug 2011
    Posts:
    398
    Location:
    Costa Mesa, CA, USA
    I know Cheyenne Mountain Zoo had Musk ox, but there exhibit is gone and that space is now used as an extension of the Reticulated giraffe exhibit. They also had them at the Los Angeles Zoo on the Hillside
     
  13. Screvier20

    Screvier20 Well-Known Member 10+ year member

    Joined:
    14 Jul 2011
    Posts:
    194
    Location:
    Schenectady, NY
    If I remember correctly the Catskill Game Farm had Muskox during the 1990s.