Muskox

The muskox (Ovibos moschatus), also spelled musk ox and musk-ox, in Inuktitut umingmak, is an Arctic mammal of the family Bovidae, noted for its thick coat and for the strong odor emitted during the seasonal rut by males, from which its name derives. This musky odor is used to attract females during mating season. Muskoxen primarily live in the Canadian Arctic and Greenland, with small introduced populations in Sweden, Siberia, Norway, and Alaska.

Evolution

Modern relatives

As members of the subfamily Caprinae of the family Bovidae, muskoxen are more closely related to sheep and goats than to oxen; however, they are placed in their own genus, Ovibos (Latin: "sheep-ox"). The muskox is one of the two largest extant members of Caprinae; along with the similarly sized takin. While takin and muskox were once considered possibly related, the takin lacks common ovibonine features, such as the muskox's specialized horn morphology, and genetic analysis shows that their lineages actually separated early in caprine evolution. Instead, the muskox's closest living relatives appear to be the gorals of the genus Naemorhedus, nowadays common in many countries of central and east Asia. The vague similarity between takin and muskox must therefore be considered an example of convergent evolution.

Musk-ox (Nikolai Leskov)

Musk-Ox is the debut short novel by Nikolai Leskov, first published in the April, No. 4 1863 issue of Otechestvennye Zapiski. According to the author's inscription, it was written on November 28, 1862, in Paris, France. The text of the novel was drastically changed twice, as it was being prepared for Stories and Sketches by M. Stebnitsky (vol.I, 1867) and the first edition of The Complete Leskov (vol.VI, 1890).

According to Maxim Gorky,

"This was the prelude to this 'avengeful' novel, No Way Out," the author's son Andrey Leskov wrote in his biography. The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979) also mentions Musk-ox alongside No Way Out and Neglected People as being were "directed against the 'new men'."

Synopsis

An ex-seminary student Vasily Bogoslovsky, a.k.a. Ovtsebyk (Musk-Ox, a nickname referring both to peculiarities of his appearance and certain habits) is an eccentric whose every step and phrase baffles and amuses people. He detests what's going on around him, but is uncapable of any practical work, spending his time loitering in woods, reading Latin philosophers and revisiting his old friends from time to time, reminding them about his urgent need of finding any kind of employment.