100 Places To Remember: Zackenberg, Greenland
Geschreven op 12-2-2010 - Erik van Erne. Geplaatst in Natuur
The Home of a Living Prehistoric Animal. Far to the north, in the High Arctic, lives one of the planets oldest existing mammals, the musk ox. More closely related to the sheep than the ox, its Latin name is Ovibus, meaning sheep-ox. In Greenland, it is known as the Úmimmak, the long-bearded one, because of the rich layers of wool that protect it from the wind and cold.
The musk ox is indigenous to the region and lives in groups. When threatened, the animals form a circle to protect themselves and their calves, and to scare off intruders. They feed on the sparse vegetation that grows to a height of 5-6 cm in the summer season, when temperatures can peak at about 10ºC. In winter, with temperatures down to 35ºC, the musk ox uses its hooves to scrape through deep snow and access food.
Climate change is likely to cause the temperature to fluctuate even more and add to the number of ice layers covering vegetation during spring and autumn.
Higher temperatures could induce an annual rise in precipitation of 20%, even reaching 30-50% in the winter, which would make the snow 10-25% deeper.
Deeper snow and added layers of ice will make it extremely difficult for the musk ox to find food. Larger volumes of snow could also delay the start of the growing season and make vegetation even sparser.
