Tab.1: Total estimated muskox numbers and quotas in management zones of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut

In view of the drastic growth in the Canadian Inuit population, the rising costs of living, the missing job and income alternatives and the high unemployment rate in the arctic, efforts are being made to make use of the muskox populations in order to provide additional sources of food and/or revenue. The present paper attempts to review the course of muskox utilization in the Canadian Arctic and to tentatively assess its present as weIl as its future economic importance. Starting with the pre-European status of muskoxen in Canada, the drastic reduction in numbers resulting from the combined efforts of hide traders, whalers and expedition parties in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the impact of the legal protection and the recovery since 1917 are being described. Establishing muskox farms with semi-domesticated herds failed in Canada in the 1970's. Since 1969, though, increasing numbers of animals have been allotted to many Inuit communities, and despite the fact that most of the animals were primarily used for subsistence purposes, some communities could reserve part of their quotas for trophy (sport) hunters. While controlled sustainable subsistence and trophy hunts may eventually be carried out over the whole muskox range, including recently colonized northern Quebec, commercial harvesting for meat, hides and wool, introduced in 1981, will at least for some time be restricted to Banks and Victoria islands which at present show 78 % of the Canadian muskox population and 94 % of the overall quota.

Conserving Canada's musk-oxen,

At head of title: Department of the Interior. Hon. Thomas G. Murphy, minister. W.W. Cory, C.M.G., deputy minister. North West Territories and Yukon Branch. O.S. Finnie, director. "Notes on the musk-ox and the caribou, by R.M. Anderson, PH. D.": p.49-53.

Radiocarbon dates of peatland initiation across the northern high latitudes

A compilation of basal dates of peatland initiation across the northern high latitudes, associated metadata including location, age, raw and calibrated radiocarbon ages, and associated references. Includes previously published datasets from sources below as well as 365 new data points.

Sequence analysis of bitter taste receptor gene repertoires in different ruminant species

Bitter taste has been extensively studied in mammalian species and is associated with sensitivity to toxins and with food choices that avoid dangerous substances in the diet. At the molecular level, bitter compounds are sensed by bitter taste receptor proteins (T2R) present at the surface of taste receptor cells in the gustatory papillae. Our work aims at exploring the phylogenetic relationships of T2R gene sequences within different ruminant species. To accomplish this goal, we gathered a collection of ruminant species with different feeding behaviors and for which no genome data is available: American bison, chamois, elk, European bison, fallow deer, goat, moose, mouflon, muskox, red deer, reindeer and white tailed deer. The herbivores chosen for this study belong to different taxonomic families and habitats, and hence, exhibit distinct foraging behaviors and diet preferences. We describe the first partial repertoires of T2R gene sequences for these species obtained by direct sequencing. We then consider the homology and evolutionary history of these receptors within this ruminant group, and whether it relates to feeding type classification, using MEGA software. Our results suggest that phylogenetic proximity of T2R genes corresponds more to the traditional taxonomic groups of the species rather than reflecting a categorization by feeding strategy.