Ovibos= muskox. I prefer to use the term Ovibos, which is derived from the s names of the genera for both sheep (Ovis) and cattle (Bos).
They are actually far more closely related to sheep and goats than they are to cattle. At one point, it was believed that the muskox’s closest relative was the Himalayan takin, but recent analysis of their mitochondrial DNA has found that the takin are more closely related to sheep than Ovibos.
In The Northward Course of Empire, Vilhjalmur Stefansson (who was a Canadian ethnologist of Icelandic descent) describes the muskoxen as a wonderful animal that should be domesticated to produce both meat and wool for the future Arctic civilization.
There were two domestication centers for this species that were set up. One was at Fort Chimo, Quebec, and the other at Unalakleet, Alaska. The Quebec population was released into the wild, where it is now a free roaming and self-sustaining population. The one in Alaska has been kept in captivity for many generations, and it has since been moved to Palmer. A native industry has developed around selling and processing the wool, which is called qiviut.
