Musk Ox
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Musk Ox
Mammal
A shaggy Arctic grazer and Ice Age survivor whose dense underwool, called qiviut, is one of the warmest natural fibres known.
Name Story
Ovibos moschatus
means “the musky sheep-ox”
What does its name mean?
- Ovibos — sheep-oxLatin (ovis, 'sheep' + bos, 'ox')
- moschatus — musky, musk-scentedLatin, from Greek (moschos, 'musk')
Its name is a one-word biology lesson. The musk ox looks like a shaggy ox, but it is really a giant relative of sheep and goats — so "sheep-ox" is perfect — and the "musk" is the strong scent the bulls give off.