A shaggy mascot from the northern Canadian city of Yellowknife has been given a new nickname: “Elon Muskox.”
The muskox sculpture bears some resemblance to its namesake, Elon Musk, the headline-grabbing tech entrepreneur.
But residents of the Northwest Territories capital enjoyed the play on words during an online competition to name the new work of art.
Yellowknife launched a poll to name the sculpture earlier this month.
“We’re really hoping to get a response from Elon Musk, maybe even invite him to our city for a meeting with Elon Muskox,” Yellowknife communications manager Stephanie Vandeputte told the BBC.
Yellowknife resident Eric Fuhrmann nominated the winning entry, which received 123 votes.
Finalists include Me’die’ah, meaning the bearded one; Ethel, after Ethel Blondin-Andrew, the first indigenous woman elected to the Parliament of Canada; and Musky McMuskoxface.
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The 11-foot mosaic musk ox – created from a combination of carvings and “fur” made from growing plants – currently sits in front of Yellowknife City Hall.
The muskox is a stocky, woolly, ungulate, horned mammal that roams the Arctic tundra and is native to Canada, Greenland, and the U.S. state of Alaska.
Although they resemble oxen, they are more closely related to goats than cattle.
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