YAKUTSK, February 14. /TASS/. The number of musk oxen, which in an experiment had been brought to the Zavyalov Island in the Sea of Okhotsk, continues to grow and now is more than 30 animals, the experiment's author - the Expedition-Tour Company - told TASS.

The musk ox population on the Zavyalov Island is the southernmost in Eurasia. It has formed since 2018, when the first batch of Arctic animals was brought to the island in the Magadan Region. It was the first attempt to relocate that northern animal to such southern latitudes. Before that, musk oxen lived only on the Yamal Peninsula and in Yakutia's north.

"Over this time, young animals have been born on the island. The first calf appeared in 2021 (on May 9 and thus was named Pobeda - 'victory' in Russian), another two - in 2022. Nine calves were born in 2023 - they all have survived, they felt fine and by the end of the season it was not that easy to tell them from adult animals. The total number has reached 36 animals," the company said.

Musk ox island

The Zavyalov Island (about 40,000 hectares of protected forest, rocks and rocky beaches) is located in the Tauiskaya Bay, the Sea of Okhotsk, some 45 km from Magadan. The island has remained uninhabited since the 1990s, when a weather station, a lighthouse and a fish factory were closed there. Since 2018, the island has become a habitat for musk oxen - the plan was they would be a main tourist attraction. A trip to the island will take three hours by a speedboat.

The Expedition-Tour Company has been creating a modern tourist complex on the island since 2019. The investor and the Kolyma authorities are confident the facility will be of demand among the locals and visiting tourists.

Specialists have seen how "in the summer heat, musk oxen would go down to the river to lie in the water for a long time. At times they ran knee-deep into the sea and played games, went into the sea water up to their necks, remained standing there for a long time, and even made small sea swims. On the sea coast they often dug with their hooves in seaweed and even attempted to chew them."

The scientists have calculated that the animals spend two to four hours a day moving around the island beyond the feeding time, and they lie about also two to four hours. In the dark time they prefer to lie down.

The musk ox is a wild animal, and when observing them, scientists slowly walk 20-100 meters behind the herd, and have to sit down from time to time so that the animals could calm down. "This happens very slowly, not to scare or provoke their running, since quite often they are moving along steep cliffs descending towards the sea. Musk oxen have got used to the Expedition Tour staff and their behavior, and the people have managed to direct them to the pen, where it is more convenient to protect the animals from bears: in the high shrubberies, musk oxen move slowly, but do not avoid places where predators could attack them easily," the company's expert noted.

Risks to population

Experts of the Institute of Biological Problems (the Russian Academy of Sciences' Far Eastern Branch) have found the brown bear is able to exterminate more than 70% of the musk oxen inhabited on the island. Results of their studies have been published in the Arctic: Ecology and Economics magazine.

"The experience to introduce musk oxen on the Zavyalov Island has shown that even with reliable armed protection, the brown bear is able to exterminate more than 70% of the inhabited animals. Apparently, the successful spread of the main musk ox populations into more northern territories largely depends on the low density of brown bears or their complete absence," the article reads.

Over the observation period, six musk oxen have died on the Zavyalov Island positively of bears, and another 18 - most likely, since they were in places where the predators had been seen earlier.

Earlier, death from falling off rocks has not been registered, though one case is definitely known on the Zavyalov Island. "Such a fall, and not the only one, could have been provoked by a brown bear. After all, no remains were found from some of the dead [animals]. This is due to the dense high green thickets of impenetrable cedar and alder, covering the part of the island where the animals were lost, and due to the steep ledges above the sea, where those musk oxen could have fallen, when pursued by bears," the scientists noted.

The wolf is believed to be the main enemy of musk oxen, but that predator has not been seen on the Zavyalov Island. Another animal that is known to attack those artiodactyls is wolverine, but again - none have been seen on the island. "In a minimal impact of predators on the population on the Zavyalov Island, we may expect at first a growth, and then [there will be] an inevitable decline in numbers due to a shortage of feed. To avoid this, it would be reasonable to resettle young animals - up to 60% of the offspring," the experts concluded.