One of the places we visited in Alaska was the Musk Ox Farm in Palmer. My parents and sister and I had previously visited in 2002, and it was fun to go back. I highly recommend it to anyone visiting that area of Alaska!
I always love seeing a furry animal, but we learned a lot, too. Native Alaskans had traditionally used mux ox hide, but only relatively recently had started using yarn made from the musk ox undercoat (aka qiviut). At the farm, they comb out the undercoat (so they can get a clean collection, and it doesn't get mixed with dirt, twigs, and poop on the ground if it falls out on its own). They send it to Peru to be made into yarn, which I thought was interesting. It made me wonder if there were similarities between qiviut and alpaca fiber.
Musk ox are also pretty tough customers. The guide showed us places where they had headbutted the fence. We were also instructed not to crouch down to take any photos.
We were lucky in that the critters were obligingly hanging out near their fences when we toured.
