I wasn’t on campus yesterday when one of our younger bull elk jumped an eight foot perimeter fence surrounding his enclosure. He found himself face to face with a muskox. The muskox was in his own paddock with his caprine herd-mates looking on.
Our staff photographer, Doug Lindstrand, was on site to capture footage of the standoff that ensued between the elk and a very concerned and formidable muskox bull. The elk was eventually corralled back into his enclosure.
The Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center has two subspecies of North American elk — the Rocky Mountain and Roosevelt subspecies.
Elk were introduced to Alaska. Muskox were reintroduced to the state after they were extirpated through hunting in the late 19th century. They would not encounter each other in the wild.