Within hours of being born, a muskox calf is ready to start exploring. Meanwhile, its mother keeps a careful eye on her newborn. Muskoxen were hunted to extinction in Alaska by 1860 but were reintroduced in the 1930s. There are now a few thousand in the state.
Features
TRANSCRIPT
- [Narrator] The first birth of spring.
It's not a caribou, but a newborn muskox, a 30-pound baby delivered straight onto the snow.
The family surrounds her, a protection from dangers outside their circle.
(muskox grunts) But within hours, the calf wants out.
There's a beautiful new world to explore.
Every calf is precious.
Muskox were hunted to extinction in Alaska in the 1860s, but were brought back in the 1930s.
There are now a few thousand here in Alaska.
A little river gully is a new adventure for the calf.
Once in, getting back out is harder.
(calf moos) The mother won't follow.
She doesn't know how deep the snow is and could easily get stuck.
She tracks her calf from the bank.
The calf discovers ice.
(calf mooing) There's a physical urgency to find your feet here, but perhaps a greater mental urgency for the calf to figure out her world.
The patient mother waits and her calf finds a way out.
