Muskoxen were hunted to extinction in Europe and also in Alaska by the beginning of the 20th century. In 1930 34 animals captured in Greenland were brought to Fairbanks, and transported the following spring to Nunivak Island, where they prospered. After a mushing race starting in Kotzebue I asked one of the mushers if he'd seen the muskoxen at Cape Thompson, which the race passed through. "Hey, they're really cool," he said. "You can't tell which end is which!"