The Walrus
National Geographic Canada

The Arctic Ocean habitat of the Atlantic walrus ranges from the eastern Canadian Artic all the way to Greenland. This magnificent mammal, whose entire population is classified in one species, Odobenus rosmarus, was relentlessly hunted in previous centuries. European whaling ships slaughtered the walruses, sold their tusks for ivory and used their blubber for oil. As a result, the Atlantic population is still dangerously low. Today, the animals number between 10,000 and 50,000. While the levels are not low enough to warrant an IUCN (The World Conservation Union) listing, hunting the animals for sport or sale is prohibited except for Inuit families, who are allowed to legally kill four walruses per year for subsistence.

The walrus, awkward on land, is surprisingly fluid in the water. The average walrus swims at a rate of seven kilometres per hour but it can reach speeds upwards of 30 kilometres per hour. Preferring to inhabit shallow water regions (40 metres or less) near the coasts of the Artic Ocean, walruses live mainly on ice floes, but the males (bulls), in the summer season, may use inlets or isolated beaches. The females (cows) and the young stay on the ice floes all year round.

Their large tusks, called canines, can grow up to an average of 50 centimeters in length. Stiff beard bristles, or vibrissae, grow like moustaches over their tusks. A walrus uses its tusk for a variety of reasons: cutting through ice, hooking ice for stability while sleeping, helping to pull the body from the water, tearing apart prey for food, and, for males, battling for territories.

Walruses eat animals that live at the bottom of the ocean. On any one day, a walrus could eat mussels, snails, crabs, clams and shellfish. Their huge appetites are sometimes satisfied by eating fish, seals and young whales. A full-grown adult male can weigh up to 1700 kilograms; females are slightly smaller. They have tough, thick skin that becomes flushed when the animal lies in the sun, giving them the appearance of being sunburned.

Humans, polar bears and killer whales are the walrus' natural enemies. They tend to reside in herds on the ice floes, sitting in the company of thousands of other walruses, to protect themselves from their predators. These large congregations are organized according to tusk and body size and, in the non-breeding season, are segregated by the sexes where the young will obviously stay with the cows.