The muskoxen were the most interesting animals there. They survived the last ice age and are relatives of the wooly mammoth. They migrated to North America between 200,000 and 90,000 years ago. The adults weigh on average 600lbs with males being about 200lbs heavier than the females. They live in herds of about 10-20 and during mating season the males compete to be the top bull. They ram heads until one male wins. The males can be extremely aggressive. At this facility the workers only go into the pens on tractors. They said that the males have broken the fence a couple of times and that one time a particularly aggressive male broke every single wooden post in the fence and head butted a huge tire all the way across the field.
The muskoxen only have 3 natural predator: wolves, grizzley bears, and polar bears. If threatened, they will form a circle with the adults on the outside facing out and the babies on the inside. Then if a predator attacks they will head butt it over the whole group.
You can see the difference between the male and female heads. The males have huge, thick horns to ram heads.
The caribou were pretty cool also. We learned that reindeer are a type of caribou.
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