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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Environment
Patrick Greenfield

They lived through the ice age. Can the mighty musk ox survive the heat?

Two shaggy musk oxen, with big curved horns, look at the camera from a ridge
Scientists say Greenland’s musk oxen are increasingly vulnerable to disease and parasites as the climate warms. Photograph: Jack Stephens/Alamy

Built like a small bison, weighing as much as a grand piano and covered in thick, shaggy coat, the musk ox is one of the most distinctive species in the high Arctic. But from a hill on Greenland’s tundra, they seem impossible to find.

Each bush, rock and clump of grass resembles a mass of wool and horns in the blustery chill on the edge of the island’s enormous polar ice cap. Scanning the shimmering landscape with binoculars, Chris Sørensen looks for signs of movement.

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