  We report the first experimental determination of the collision-energy
dependence of the muon transfer rate from the ground state of muonic hydrogen
to oxygen at near-thermal energies. A sharp increase by nearly an order of
magnitude in the energy range 0 - 70 meV was found that is not observed in
other gases. The results set a reliable reference for quantum-mechanical
calculations of low-energy processes with exotic atoms, and provide firm ground
for the measurement of the hyperfine splitting in muonic hydrogen and the
determination of the Zemach radius of the proton by the FAMU collaboration.
