Radio Script
1999

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Research Boosts Qiviut Production
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INTRO: Musk ox have endured the harsh cold of the high Arctic for thousands of years. It's no wonder then, that their soft underwool, called qiviut (KIV-EE-UT), is among the world's warmest and most sought-after natural fibers. As Doug Schneider reports in this week's Arctic Science Journeys, researchers in Alaska are looking for ways to boost the supply of this valuable product.

STORY: Musk ox have survived the frigid Arctic climate for the last 20,000 years because they have long, woolen coats and they move very slowly. Just how slowly was evident one recent day at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Large Animal Research Station, as graduate researcher Morgan Robertson tried to coax two musk ox--named Red and Brown--to their feet.

ROBERTSON: "These are our two retirees. These are our oldest girls. They're both 18 years old, Red and Brown. They're checking us out right now to see if we have treats. You can see Brown is considering getting up. But musk ox take a while. They definitely ponder over these energy issues. Here comes Red. Here they come."

It's early winter in Alaska. Already, a light dusting of snow covers the ground--and you can see your breath in the 20-degree air. But the chill doesn't seem to faze Red and Brown--in fact they seem to revel in it.

ROBERTSON: "These guys, unlike a lot of other mammals, are not hibernating. They're out all winter long. They're facing really cold conditions, minus 60. They're facing really windy conditions. And this coat protects them against all but the very coldest conditions."

Musk ox are able to stay warm because they wear two wool coats. The first consists of long, coarse guard hairs that extend nearly to the ground. Beneath these long hairs is a softer, denser layer of underwool, called qiviut (KIV-EE-UT).

ROBERTSON: "It's the Native word for the underwool of the musk ox, which is this soft light gray wool. It's very different in its properties. It's a much finer fiber so it's softer. And they grow that seasonally. So through the course of the summer they'll grow this wool layer, starting in June. By this time of year they'll have about four inches of this wool. It actually covers her whole body. You can see she's got it on her face. They've even got it on their legs."

Qiviut is prized throughout the Arctic as a soft, ultra-warm fiber--softer and warmer than even cashmere or angora wool. Scarves, mittens and hats made from qiviut sell for hundreds of dollars.

But qiviut is in short supply. Only about 500 pounds of qiviut are produced each year from Alaska's two domestic musk ox herds. So, for her master's degree, Morgan Robertson studied ways to boost qiviut production among the University of Alaska's 80 captive musk ox. Borrowing from a method used to boost wool production in domestic sheep, Morgan Robertson added methionine--a natural amino acid--to the musk ox diet.

ROBERTSON: "Methionine has a lot of roles in the body. What we're specifically interested in with these animals, with ruminants, is the role methionine plays in wool production. So they absorb methionine from their gut. It's transferred to cystine in their body and cystine plays a major role in hair growth and skin growth."

Captive musk ox that received weekly doses of methionine produced qiviut with fibers 25 percent longer. And because the fibers were also slightly larger, they were also stronger.

ROBERTSON: "We found that we did get improvements in wool yields, and we also found that we had differences in fiber properties. We got stronger fibers and we also got somewhat larger fibers, somewhat coarser fibers."

Methionine didn't change qiviut's soft, luxurious feel, but it did cause musk ox to produce more qiviut--about a pound more than the usual 4 to 7 pounds. And with musk ox wool in such sort supply, every pound counts.

OUTRO: This is Arctic Science Journeys, a production of the Alaska Sea Grant Program and the University of Alaska Fairbanks. I'm Doug Schneider.

Our thanks to the following individual for help in the preparation of this script:

Morgan Robertson
Large Animal Research Station
University of Alaska Fairbanks
P.O. Box 757000
Fairbanks, Alaska 99775-7000
907-457-2185
ftmar@uaf.edu

If you'd like more information about musk ox or qiviut, check out these web sites:

http://www.muskoxfarm.org/
http://www.qiviut.com/
http://mercury.bio.uaf.edu/