Group of Musk Oxen Found Frozen, Dead In Tracks

National Park Service biologists believe as many as 55 musk oxen are dead and buried beneath ice on the northern coast of the Seward Peninsula.

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By Colleen Kelly

Story Created: Mar 22, 2011 at 12:00 PM AKDT

Story Updated: Mar 22, 2011 at 12:00 PM AKDT

During a routine flight observation earlier this month, a large group of musk oxen were found frozen dead in their tracks in the Bering Land Bridge National Preserve.

National Park Service biologists believe as many as 55 musk oxen are dead and buried beneath ice on the northern coast of the Seward Peninsula.

Approximately 32 musk oxen were found frozen on March 15; the remaining frozen musk oxen will be counted in the spring.

The preliminary cause of death has been attributed to a severe winter storm, which generated a tidal surge, flooding the coast and low-lying areas of the peninsula in late February

Four of the oxen among the group were fitted with radio collars for tracking purposes and remain “an active component of a five-year study on musk oxen population dynamics in northwest Alaska,” according to NPS biologists. 

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