Photo: Kaluk Tatty: 1, umingmak: 0

Rankin Inlet’s Kaluk Tatty poses April 30 with with his sons, Anguti and Siguitok, and his first-ever harvested umingmak, or muskox. According to online websites that track Nunavut muskox, the animal’s ancestors have survived since the Pleistocene Era, or about 10,000 years. In the 1950s, due to an increased demand for their hides, muskox numbers dipped to about 1,000 animals and harvesting was curtailed to allow the herds to rebound, which they did in the 1970s. According to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, the NWT has an estimated 75,400 muskox and Nunavut has an estimated 45,300, of which 35,000 are thought to occupy Arctic Islands such as Ellesmere, Devon, Victoria and Somerset, but those estimates of muskox in Nunavut vary depending on the source. And if you’re wondering about those big horns, both males and females have them and they are not shed. Each year, they grow bigger. (PHOTO BY MAANI NATASHA TUGAK)