Giant Muskox
Praeovibos priscus
📈🐂
Chordata
Mammalia
Artiodactyla
Pecora
Bovidae
Praeovibos
Praeovibos priscus
The Ancient Muskox — Praeovibos priscus, or the Giant Muskox, was a powerful cold-adapted bovid that roamed the mammoth steppe during the Pleistocene, bridging the lineage between early tundra grazers and modern muskoxen. Its broad distribution across Eurasia and North America made it one of the most widespread Ice Age ruminants.
Description
Ancient Muskox (Praeovibos priscus) — This extinct muskox species lived from the mid to late Pleistocene (~700,000 to 10,000 years ago) and represented a key transitional form leading to the modern Ovibos moschatus. It thrived in the cold, open steppe-tundra environments of Ice Age Eurasia and Beringia, coexisting with mammoths, steppe bison, and reindeer.
Praeovibos resembled a smaller, more gracile version of the modern muskox, with long shaggy hair and slightly less curved horns. Its teeth and limb morphology suggest it grazed on coarse grasses and sedges, adapted to the nutrient-poor conditions of periglacial plains.
Quick Facts
Max Mass
Shoulder Height
Standing Height
Length
Diet
Trophic Level
600
1.2
1.8
2.2
kg
m
m
m
Herbivore
Herbivores – Grazers
Hunt History
Evidence suggests that Upper Paleolithic humans occasionally hunted Praeovibos priscus in northern Eurasia and Alaska. Its meat, hide, and dense underwool (similar to qiviut) would have been valuable resources for cold-climate hunter-gatherers. However, it likely declined due to habitat loss during deglaciation rather than overhunting.
Earliest Archaeological Evidence of Human Predation:
Yana RHS site, Siberia (~27,000 years ago): Praeovibos remains found with cut marks near human dwellings.
Bluefish Caves, Yukon (~20,000 years ago): Fragmented bone with tool marks, possible but debated evidence of hunting.
Kostenki, Russia (~30,000 years ago): Fossils alongside mammoth and bison bones in human occupation layers.
Time & Range
Extinction Status
Globally Extinct
Extinction Date
Temporal Range
Region
12000
BP
Late Pleistocene
Europe
Wiki Link
Fat Analysis
Fatness Profile:
Medium
Fat %
6
Est. Renderable Fat
36
kg
Targeted Organs
Hump/backfat, marrow, mesenteric fat
Adipose Depots
Hump/backfat, mesenteric, perirenal; marrow
Preferred Cuts
Hump/backfat & marrow
Hunt Difficulty (x/5)
4