Muskox Locations on Central Ellesmere Island in March 2017 (NGMP ID EC38)

The north end of muskoxen range on northern Ellesmere Island is typified by lack of data from scientific and local sources, since the area is too rugged and remote for harvesters to travel there regularly. Muskoxen have been surveyed infrequently and irregularly on Ellesmere Island since Teners 1961 survey extrapolated 4000 muskoxen for the island, but weather prevented a full systematic survey and the estimate was presented as a best guess (Tener 1963). In 1973, Riewe flew a series of surveys to investigate wildlife distribution during a PanArctic Oil seismic program, estimating 425 muskoxen on the Svendsen Peninsula, 200 muskoxen on the Raanes Peninsula (Riewe 1973). In 1989, Case and Ellsworth (1991) estimated 350SE90 muskoxen on the Svendsen Peninsula. Parks Canada conducted helicopter searches of wildlife in Quttinirpaaq National Park (QUNP) from 1988-2002 and in 2004, but surveys were unsystematic and annual surveys are no longer undertaken. The only survey of the entire island was 2005/2006, with an 8115 muskoxen (95%CI=6632-9930) on central and northern Ellesmere (Campbell 2006).