EDMONTON -- In the summer of 1996, biologist Frank Miller was flying along the coast of Bathurst Island searching for Peary caribou, found only in the High Arctic of Canada, when he spied a dark spot on the sea ice.
Flying in for a look, he could see these animals were not the caribou he was looking for. They were muskoxen. The circle of animals didn't bolt. Miller got the pilot to land a few hundred metres away. Even as he approached on foot, the herd didn't flinch. As he moved closer, it dawned on him -- they were all dead. The animals were frozen stiff and leaning against each other like statues.
"It was one of the most strange and gruesome things I'd ever seen as a biologist," the Edmonton researcher recalls.
"They were probably on their last legs and starving when they headed out across the sea ice searching for better food conditions on another island."
Read Entire Article
