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Ovibos moschatus wardi
Sometimes called white-faced muskox.
DESCRIPTION Smaller in body and horns than the barren ground muskox, and tends to have a whiter face, saddle, and lower legs.
DISTRIBUTION Naturally distributed throughout the Canadian arctic islands (except King William Island, whose muskoxen we treat as barren ground, and Baffin Island, which has no muskoxen), and on the northern and eastern coasts of Greenland. The natural distribution is essentially unchanged in modern times.
Beginning in 1929, Greenland muskoxen have been introduced and transplanted to a number of locations including Alaska, western Greenland, Svalbard, Norway and Russia. Muskoxen from eastern Greenland were introduced in Fairbanks, Alaska (1930), and transplanted from Fairbanks to Nunivak Island, Alaska (1935, 1936). Subsequently, Greenland muskoxen from the Nunivak Island herd were relocated to Fairbanks (1964), and from there were introduced in Unalakleet, Alaska (1976). Greenland muskoxen from Nunivak Island were also introduced on Nelson Island (1967, 1968), the Seward Peninsula (1970), Cape Thompson (1970), and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (1969, 1970) in Alaska, and on the Taimyr Peninsula (1975) and Wrangel Island (1975) in Russia. Muskoxen from eastern Greenland have been introduced near Fort Chimo, Quebec (1967) and in western Greenland (1965, 1967), Svalbard (1929), mainland Norway (1947-1953)-from where some have moved into Sweden-and the Taimyr Peninsula in Russia (1973).
To the best of our knowledge, all introductions and transplants of muskoxen throughout the world have been of the Greenland subspecies, with no barren ground muskoxen having been transplanted anywhere.
In record-keeping, we are treating all populations of Greenland muskoxen as indigenous.
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