Muskoxen at the Large Animal Research Station, Fairbanks

2°C / 36°F

09:55

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Muskoxen at the Large Animal Research Station, Fairbanks

Viewing this webcam streamed by the University of Alaska during the winter months is like getting a peep at what the Ice Age might have looked like. The beasts roaming these paddocks are not woolly mammoths though, they’re a breed of bovine called muskoxen.

Muskoxen once roamed around Alaska in herds, but while not entirely extinct, they mostly disappeared from Arctic terrains over a century ago. The University’s Large Animal Research Station has been studying these hairy, hooved prehistoric-looking beasties since the 1960s. Male musk oxen are renowned for being extremely stinky during the annual mating season so don’t be surprised if you happen to spot one of the resident scientists wandering through the field with a peg on their nose. Just be thankful smell-a-vision has yet to be invented.