Diet of the Musk Ox

The musk ox is an herbivore native to Arctic coastal plains. Once endangered, musk ox herds now thrive in Greenland, Alaska and Canada, perpetually roaming their territory and covering about a mile each day. Herds graze for about two to three hours before resting for another two to three hours, repeating the cycle throughout the day.

  1. Diet

    • Musk oxen eat grasses, mosses, lichens, willows and roots. Grasses provide their best source of nutrition during the summer, though willows preserve their nutrition more effectively than grasses during cold weather. As musk oxen graze, they use their hooves and sharp chins to dig through packed snow to their food.

    Migration

    • Musk oxen migrate to mountains and plateaus during the winter, where the snow falls more lightly than it does in the lowlands, making food easier to obtain. While food is more readily available on higher ground, herds occasionally suffer casualties when a musk ox plummets from a ridge.

    Rumination

    • Musk oxen are ruminants, animals with four-chambered stomachs. The rumen, the stomach's first chamber, partially digests the food, which is then regurgitated, chewed further and then swallowed. The rumen is home to bacteria that ferment food, which releases additional caloric energy from the food source.