Reykjavík Grapevine - 11.10.2013, Qupperneq 40

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40The Reykjavík Grapevine Issue 16 — 2013
The Dream Of The Icelandic Muskoxen
By Vera Illugadóttir
Lemúrinn is an Icelandic web magazine (Icelandic for the native primate of Madagascar). A winner of the 2012
Icelandic Web Awards, Lemurinn.is covers all things strange and interesting! Go check it out at www.lemurinn.is.
Ingimundur Gu!mundsson
This photograph, taken in August
1929, shows a few muskox calves graz-
ing in Reykjavík's central Austurvöllur
square, which was back then covered
in grass. The calves were brought to
Iceland from Greenland by some en-
terprising hunters who dreamt of en-
riching the country's dull fauna with a
breed of Icelandic muskoxen.
Before being placed on a farm
in southern Iceland, the frightened
calves were paraded out for curious
onlookers who had gathered at Aus-
turvöllur. Most of Reykjavík’s inhab-
itants had never seen such unusual
creatures—which are found mainly in
northern Canada and Greenland and
are hunted for their fur and meat.
The Icelandic hunters killed 34
adult muskoxen in the process of cap-
turing these six calves. Unfortunately,
not one of them survived to adulthood
after quickly perishing from local dis-
eases. In 1931, five more calves were
brought from Norway, but they too
died soon after arrival. And with them,
the dream of the Icelandic muskoxen
disappeared forever.