A story about who walruses are. Animal walrus: description, pictures, photos, videos, baby walrus

The diversity of animals on planet Earth is truly amazing. The Atlantic walrus is the most recognizable pinniped. It is the largest after the elephant seal. Thanks to the huge fangs on its mouth, the walrus is familiar to every person. In this article we will tell you in detail about the life of these amazing animals.

A little information

The Atlantic walrus is an animal, a mammal. It is a mistake to consider it a fish. Scientists distinguish three subspecies of walruses:

1. Laptevsky.
2. Pacific.
3. Atlantic.

The third and first species are endangered animals and are listed in the Red Book. Fishing is allowed for the second species. It is available only to the indigenous peoples of the North. The exact number of individuals is difficult to calculate. So far, scientists agree on the following indicators:

But these are conditional figures. It is not poachers that pose a serious threat to walrus numbers, but climate change. Melting ice is depriving them of their habitat and mating places.

Where does the walrus live?

In the study of any animal species, determining the habitat plays an important role. Where do walruses live? - in the area of ​​the Arctic seas, Atlantic and Pacific oceans. In winter, they live on icebergs that drift through the water. In summer they come out onto land. In the off-season they can be found between Chukotka and Alaska, and in summer in warmer waters. Atlantic walruses can be found in the western Arctic and eastern Canada. Due to poachers, the number of individuals decreases every year.

A little about nutrition

They need to eat almost all day. The basis of their diet is bottom-dwelling mollusks. They are easy to get - the walrus stirs up the muddy bottom with its long tusks, as a result of which the water is filled with hundreds of small shells. Here the walrus grabs them in his flippers and rubs them with powerful movements. After which the fragments of shells fall to the bottom, the mollusks remain on the surface of the water. So the walrus eats them. Worms and crustaceans are also eaten.

But animals do not like fish and rarely eat it, only when there are serious problems with food. Thick-skinned giants do not disdain carrion. Scientists have recorded cases of walrus attacks on narwhals and seals.

Animals need the entire diet not only to maintain the vital functions of the body, but also to build up subcutaneous fat. Its layer reaches 10 cm. It is due to this that the walrus swims and does not suffer from hypothermia.

Features of behavior

Representatives of this species of pinnipeds live in a herd. It is interesting that living collectively, individuals actively help each other and protect weak individuals from attack. When the bulk of the animals are sleeping or resting, sentries monitor the safety of the herd. When danger approaches, they begin to deafen the area with their roar. Despite the apparent slowness and inability to adapt to life, walruses:

• Excellent hearing. During observations of pinnipeds, scientists discovered that the female can hear her cub two kilometers away.
• They have a wonderful sense of smell, they sense a person well.
• Unperturbed, but thanks to their anatomy everyone sees perfectly.
• Excellent swimmers.
• Rarely attack first, but they can sink the boat.

The main threat comes not only from humans. Pinnipeds are food for killer whales and polar bears.

Reproduction

These pinnipeds reach the age of sexual maturity by five years. The bulk of the mating season occurs in April-May. Males actively fight and identify strong individuals. Females carry their young for a year. A newborn individual reaches a body length of 80 cm and a weight of 30 kg. Since walruses are mammals, they feed their offspring with milk. The cub is born alone, very rarely there are two.

By the second year of life, the cub begins to switch to adult food. His tusks reach the required length and he begins to look for shellfish. From the first day they begin to swim with their mother. The cub lives with its mother for two years. But even after this period, the female does not seek to become pregnant with a new baby. As a rule, they give birth to one walrus every four years. Fun fact - in a herd of animals, only 5% of females become pregnant.

The average lifespan of powerful pinnipeds is 30 years. The animal grows up to 20 years. According to unconfirmed reports, there were individuals who lived for forty and fifty years.

Threat to the species

The main threat to many animals comes from people. For hunters and poachers, the powerful pinnipeds have become a source of tusks (valuable on the black market), meat and lard. Despite restrictions on fishing and territory protection, the number of walruses is declining and they are in danger of extinction. An exception is made only for the indigenous peoples of the North - the Chukchi and Eskimos. For them, this is a natural need and even they can catch a limited number of individuals. The meat of this animal is a necessary part of their diet due to national characteristics.

Polar bears do not attack walruses very often. In the water he is clearly losing, and on land the forces will not be equal. Its prey is mainly young and old animals, as well as sick ones. Orcas present more real threat. In water they are swift and ruthless. They are larger and heavier than pinnipeds. They have only one chance to escape - to crawl onto land. Fun fact: Orcas work as teams. They divide the herd into groups and push them away from the shore and ice floes. A fragmented community becomes easy prey for predators. Other animals do not pose a threat to walruses.

The walrus is a large pinniped marine mammal, second in size only to the elephant seal. Reaches a weight of 2,000 kg. Listed in the Red Book of Russia.

Appearance

Walrus- a very large animal with thick wrinkled skin. Males have large skin growths on the neck and shoulders. The larger these growths, the more attractive they appear to females. The thickness of the skin reaches 10 cm, and the subcutaneous fat - 15 cm. Males are much larger than females - the weight of some individuals reaches 2 tons, but usually does not exceed 800 - 1500 kg. Females weigh on average 500 - 800 kg. The length of adult walruses is 2 - 3.5 m.

Young walruses have dark brown skin with yellowish hairs. Adult animals go bald over time, and their skin becomes lighter in color. Old individuals become almost pink towards the end of their lives.

A distinctive feature of these pinnipeds is their huge tusks. Their length can reach 1 m. They help the animal when moving on slippery surfaces and for breaking through ice. The tusks are elongated upper fangs that point downwards. In males they are larger and are used for battles with other males during the mating period. Males with the largest tusks occupy a dominant position in the herd.

The muzzle is wide, with hard, thick antennae-bristles on the upper lip. The eyes are small. The ear openings are hidden under the skin and have no outlet to the outside. The tail is small. The front flippers are well developed, allowing walruses to move more or less normally on land, unlike many other pinnipeds, which can only crawl on the ground.

There are three populations of walruses with slight external differences - the Pacific, Atlantic and Laptev Sea populations.

Pacific walrus population the largest in both number and size of animals. It lives on the northern coast of Eastern Siberia, on Wrangel Island, in northern Alaska. In winter, herds of walruses move south - to the Berengov Sea, to Kamchatka and to the southern coast of Alaska. According to modern estimates, the population size is 200 thousand animals.

Atlantic walrus smaller by about a third of their Pacific relatives. It lives in northern Canada, Greenland and the western region of the Russian Arctic. It was almost completely exterminated by humans as a result of uncontrolled fishing. The estimated population size is 15 - 20 thousand individuals.

Laptev walrus population the smallest - about 5 thousand individuals. It is isolated from other populations in the Laptev Sea and Kara Sea.

Behavior and reproduction

Walruses are very sociable animals, constantly helping and supporting each other. Together they guard the cubs, signal about approaching danger, and generally treat all members of their herd very warmly. The only time walruses turn into bullies is during mating season. At this time, adult sexually mature males fight with each other for the right to mate with a female and occupy a dominant position in the herd. The rest of the time the animals are not aggressive. They do not show aggression towards their natural enemies, including humans, although there are documented cases of walruses attacking boats - their huge tusks can easily split small vessels.

Walrus herds always post sentries along the entire perimeter of the rookery. The sentries, relying on their sense of smell, hearing and vision, monitor polar bears and humans, who are their main enemies in nature. In case of danger, the sentry raises a loud roar and wakes up his sleeping comrades. The herd rushes into the water and can hide under water for up to 30 minutes until the danger disappears. In general, despite their impressive size, walruses try not to get into fights with anyone, preferring to retreat to a safe distance. A person, knowing the caution of walruses, sneaks up from the leeward side during a hunt, trying not to reveal his presence until the last moment.

The main diet of walruses consists of various invertebrates, shrimp, sea worms, sea cucumbers, and less often fish. Sometimes seals are attacked, but such cases are very rare. Hungry walruses do not disdain carrion.

They feed in shallow water areas. They are not the best divers compared to other pinnipeds and do not dive deeper than 80 m. On a dirty bottom they navigate with the help of vibrissae(antennae-bristles on the upper lip). When feeding, the walrus does not use its tusks, but digs out the bottom with the help of flippers and the upper part of its snout. Despite its omnivorous and gluttonous nature, the animal does not have a strong detrimental effect on the ecosystem in its “pastures.” By loosening the soil, the walrus releases nutrients located deep in the silt, thereby creating favorable conditions for the further development of bottom animals.

Walruses live up to 30 years in the wild. Males reach sexual maturity by age 7, but usually do not mate until age 15. Females are ready for pregnancy at 4-6 years of age. Ovulation (the period of possibility of conception) in females occurs at the end of summer and in February, but males are ready to mate only in the February cycle. Scientists do not understand the reason why females ovulate in summer.

At the beginning of winter, males suddenly stop feeding in preparation for mating. Gathering around the females, they express themselves in vocal art, competition in which often leads to a battle on the tusks. Females choose the male they like and mate with him in the water. Pregnancy lasts up to 16 months. Cubs appear once every 3-4 years. Young calves are born between April and June and are able to swim from birth. The child remains with the mother until he is 5 years old. Young walruses are protected by the entire herd. In times of danger, females cover the juveniles with their bodies so that no one accidentally crushes them when a panicked retreat to the water begins. While swimming, a tired calf can climb onto any adult and rest.

State of the population and relationship with humans

In the 18th-19th centuries. Commercial fishing for the Atlantic walrus has led to the almost complete extinction of this animal. Currently, hunting for it is prohibited everywhere, but some indigenous peoples of the north are allowed to hunt a small number of walruses, but always for their own consumption with a ban on the sale of meat, fat or bones of the animal. For a European, walrus meat dishes do not seem tasty, but cooked walrus tongue is considered a delicacy.

The Chukchi, Yupik peoples (Russian Far East) and Inuit (North America) consume walrus meat all winter, flippers are preserved and stored until spring, tusks and bones are used to make various tools, amulets and jewelry. Waterproof thick skin - for finishing houses and boats. With modern, cheap building materials available in the far north, walruses are no longer as vital to survival as they were 100 years ago, but they are still sought after by many indigenous peoples, and carving and beading of walrus skin is an important art form.

Walrus population sizes are difficult to determine. The fertility of animals and their mortality are not fully understood. The difficult climatic conditions of the walrus habitat also complicate the count. The Pacific walrus is currently classified as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act. The Atlantic walrus and the Laptev population are included in the Red Book of Russia and are assigned to the second (declining in numbers) and third (rare) rarity groups, respectively.

The effects of global warming are another concern for zoologists. The volume and thickness of pack ice (at least 3 meters thick and older than 2 years) is constantly decreasing, which affects the birth rate of animals and the disappearance of their usual habitats.

According to various estimates, the size of all walrus populations is 200-250 thousand animals.

• During the last ice age, walruses were distributed up to 37 degrees north latitude. This is evidenced by the found remains dating back 28 thousand years. near San Francisco in the USA. At the same latitude is the northern border of the African continent, Greece, Japan, and Turkey.

Video

The Atlantic walrus is a unique animal of its kind that lives in ecologically clean areas of the Barents Sea. Unfortunately, the extremely negative influence of humanity is clearly visible here too - at the moment the species is on the verge of complete extinction, therefore. Pay attention to these frightening numbers - out of 25,000 individuals, only 4,000 remain at the moment. The territories where these animals live are under strict protection. However, the population increase is very slow.

These animals live in small, scattered herds that have virtually no contact with each other. The sharp decline in numbers is due to practically uncontrolled fishing, as in most cases.

Description of the species

Physiological data about this breed is quite scarce, but there is still some information. This is a large animal, with thick brown-brown skin. A male Atlantic walrus, 3-4 meters long, can weigh up to two tons. But as for the female representatives of the breed, they can grow up to 2.6 meters in length, and their weight does not exceed one ton. The walrus's head is small, with long tusks and tiny eyes. The length of the click can reach up to half a meter. In this case, tusks are also practical in nature - they easily cut through ice and help protect their territory and herd from enemies. Moreover, with its tusks a walrus can easily pierce even a white polar bear.

Despite its obesity and very large weight, this species of animal has one small but very important detail - a mustache. They form several hundred small but stiff hairs, which help walruses search for mollusks in water and ice floes.

The optimal habitat for the Atlantic walrus is ice floes. But as for land, here this huge animal feels, to put it mildly, uncomfortable. Due to their obesity and large weight, it is simply inconvenient for them to move on land - they can only use 4 flippers to move.

A giant representative of the Arctic eats up to 50 kilograms of food per day. This amount is optimal for him. The basis of the diet is crustaceans and mollusks. But there is evidence that in the absence of food, a walrus can even attack seal pups.

Life cycle

On average, the Atlantic walrus lives 45 years. It goes without saying that during the period of its large numbers, the lifespan was somewhat longer. The behavior of the animal is somewhat strange - it matures very slowly. A walrus can be considered an adult only 6-10 years after birth. A walrus can not only sleep and eat, but also snarl and make sounds that are understandable only to similar individuals. It is noteworthy that this type of animal can bark.

The walrus is quite “talented” - during the mating season it makes special sounds that are very similar to expressive singing. Not all representatives of the animal world have this feature of attracting females for procreation.

Gestation after conception lasts quite a long time - a whole year. The baby is fed for two years and the mother does not leave him until he grows up. The birth of offspring occurs every 3-5 years. Actually, the herd is formed from females and cubs.

The favorite habitat of pinnipeds is the Barents Sea and the Kara Sea. The animal can also be found in the waters of the White Sea. In fairness, it should be noted that the sharp decline in the number of this species of animal is due not only to mass shooting due to fishing, but due to the development of the oil industry - enterprises in this industry pollute the natural habitat of the walrus.

Video about the Atlantic walrus

An inhabitant of the harsh climate of the Arctic, the walrus has become a household name because it spends most of its time in icy water getting its food. In order to survive in such difficult conditions, this animal must have enormous energy resources.

And he has these resources: walruses sea animals possessing impressive dimensions - the length of an adult male can reach 5 meters, and weight up to 1.5 tons, while females are slightly smaller - length up to 3 m, and weight 800 - 900 kg.

Another feature that strikes you when you look at photo of walrus animal other than its size, it's the huge protruding fangs it possesses.

From the small head, relative to the body, two powerful tusks protrude downwards, which can reach 80 cm; the animal needs them not only for defense, disputes often arise between males and clashes, but also for obtaining food from the bottom. Also, with their help, a walrus can climb onto ice floes.

The fat layer of this animal is about 15 cm, and the proportion of fat from the total body weight reaches 25%. Walrus is a mammal animal and warm-blooded, so when it is in the water for a long time, the blood drains from the surface of the skin, and its body becomes light.

Then, when the walrus comes to the surface, the blood rushes back to the top layer of the skin, and the body takes on its previous brownish tint. Juveniles have a small coat of fur, which disappears as they grow older.

Walruses are animals of the Arctic - they live along the entire coast of the Arctic Ocean and on the adjacent islands. Their populations also live in Greenland, the Spitsbergen archipelago, the Red Sea, and Iceland.

In the summer, large populations of walruses gather in Bristol Bay, but the most comfortable conditions for them are in the Tread Sea in Alaska, but since walruses are migratory animals, they can also be found on the northern coast of eastern Siberia.

Character and lifestyle of the walrus

Walrus animal not inherently aggressive, they gather in groups of 20-30 individuals, and only during the breeding season the largest males appear in the flock and take on the dominant role.

On rookeries that can arrange northern animals walruses, several thousand individuals gather. While on vacation, females take care of the babies, males sort things out.

Those animals that are located on the edges of the rookery serve as sentinels; having noticed any threat from afar, they notify their fellows with a loud ditch about the approaching danger. Hearing the alarm signal, the entire herd rushes into the water; if there is a strong crush, the cubs may suffer, so the females cover them with their bodies.

One of the ways of subsistence is animals walrus, seal and other inhabitants of the north. The bear resorts to hunting walruses in rare cases, since in the water it cannot cope with them, and on land its prey is weakened animals or cubs that died in a stampede.

Pictured is a colony of walruses

The bear will not resist an adult healthy individual; for it there is easier prey among the seals. In the water, the only enemies of walruses are, they are larger than walruses and have sharp teeth. To escape from killer whales, walruses have to get to land.

Walrus food

Since the walrus lives in coastal waters, it finds food there; it swims to a depth of up to 50 m, and is capable of diving to a maximum of 80 m. Most of its diet consists of mollusks, crustaceans and worms.

With his huge fangs, he plows the beard at the bottom, thereby lifting up the shells of mollusks, then with his flippers he rubs them, separating the shells from the “filling”, the shell fragments are heavier and fall to the bottom.

To get enough food, a walrus needs 50 kg of shellfish a day; it doesn’t like fish, and resorts to it when there is no other food. The largest males can hunt seals, seals, and narwhals - they are considered dangerous predators and can attack humans. Having tasted the meat, the walrus will continue to look for it; northern peoples call these people Kelyuchams.

Reproduction and lifespan

Reproduction walruses animals of the Red Data Book of Russia does not occur often, the age of puberty occurs by 6 years. Mating takes place from April to May, during which time males fight for females.

The female often gives birth to one cub, less often than two, this can happen once every 4 years. Pregnancy lasts up to 360 days, the newborn weighs 30 kg and feeds on mother’s milk for up to 1 year.

The female protects the offspring for up to 3 years, until they begin to grow fangs with which they can get their own food. At the age of 2 years, he can already eat various foods, but also continues to drink his mother’s milk. Lifespan arctic animal walrus is 30 years, of which 20 years they grow. The known maximum age is 35 years.

The population of all walruses on the planet is only 250 thousand, and the Laptenevsky species, listed in Krasnaya, has only 20 thousand individuals. This situation became possible due to commercial hunting.

They were mainly hunted for their fangs, which were used to make weapon handles and various crafts. Local peoples used skins and meat. Currently, commercial hunting and commercial fishing are prohibited throughout the world; hunting is allowed only to those old-fashioned people for whom it is a way of life.

In the photo there is a walrus with a calf

These include the Chukchi, Eskimos, etc., they eat walrus meat, use fat for lighting, and use tusks for crafts as part of folklore. Global climate change has also had an impact on the walrus population; due to warming, the thickness of the pack ice where walruses build their rookeries has decreased.

Pack ice is desalinated drift ice that has undergone a two-year freeze-thaw cycle. As a result of the melting of this ice, the distance between the “rest zone” and the place of obtaining food has increased, so the cubs have to wait longer for their mothers, which subsequently reduces their reproductive function.

There is confirmation of this - the remains of a walrus were found on the coast near San Francisco; their age is almost 30 thousand years, this indicates that they were previously distributed further south.

Walrus - the great Arctic giant. When he is not resting on the ice, he spends his time cutting holes in the ice with his long fangs. Through them he obtains food for himself - bivalve mollusks.

External structure

A large sea animal with very thick skin. The upper canines are extremely developed, elongated and directed downwards. The very wide muzzle is lined with numerous thick, hard, flattened whisker bristles (vibrissae); a walrus can have from 400 to 700 of them on the upper lip, arranged in 13-18 rows. There are no external ears, the eyes are small.
The skin is covered with short, adjacent yellow-brown hair, but with age there is less hair, and old walruses have almost completely bare skin. The limbs are more adapted for movement on land than those of true seals, and walruses can walk rather than crawl; soles are calloused. The tail is rudimentary.

Anatomy of a walrus

A walrus uses its tusks to stay on the edge of an ice hole.

Skeleton

Although some Pacific males can weigh up to 2000 kg, most weigh between 800 and 1700 kg. The Atlantic subspecies weighs 10-20% less. Atlantic walruses also tend to have relatively short tusks and a somewhat flatter muzzle. Some males of the Pacific subspecies were much larger than normal. Females weigh about a third less, Atlantic females on average 560 kg, sometimes weighing only 400 kg, and Pacific females on average 794 kg with a length of 2.2 to 3.6 m. The incisors of the upper jaw are small or completely reduced, in the lower jaw there are no incisors. The testes are hidden under the skin-fat layer and are not located in the scrotum. Walruses usually have 2 pairs of mammary glands, sometimes more, and it is not uncommon to have 5 nipples (source not specified 281 days). Thus, out of 7 walruses of the Pacific and Atlantic subspecies, which are kept in the zoo of Udmurtia and in Harderwijk, the Netherlands (Dolfinarium Harderwijk), three have five teats each. Males have paired air sacs without closing valves, formed by a protrusion of the upper esophagus. The bags inflate under the skin of the neck, turning upward, and allow the walrus to float vertically in the water during sleep.

Tusks

The most characteristic feature of the walrus is its long tusks. These are elongated fangs that are present in both sexes and can reach a length of 1 m and weigh up to 5.4 kg. The tusks are slightly longer and thicker on males, who use them for fighting. Males with the largest tusks usually dominate the social group. The tusks are also used to form and support holes in the ice and help walruses climb out of the water onto the ice.

Leather

The skin of walruses is very wrinkled and thick, up to 10 cm on the neck and shoulders of males. The fat layer is up to 15 cm. Young walruses have a dark brown skin color, and as they grow older they lighten and become pale. Old males turn almost pink. Because the blood vessels in the skin constrict in cold water, walruses can turn almost white when swimming. Secondary sexual characteristics for males (in natural conditions) are characterized by growths on the skin of the neck, chest and shoulders.

Subspecies

There are two or three subspecies of walrus:

— Pacific walrus (Odobenus rosmarus divergens ILLIGER, 1811)

— Atlantic walrus (Odobenus rosmarus rosmarus LINNAEUS, 1758)

A third subspecies is often isolated from the Pacific subspecies.

- Laptev walrus (Odobenus rosmarus laptevi CHAPSKII, 1940)

But his independence is questioned by many. The Laptev population is included in the Red Book of Russia as a separate subspecies. According to the IUCN, based on the results of recent studies of mitochondrial DNA and the study of morphometric data, it is necessary to abandon the consideration of the Laptev walrus as an independent subspecies, recognizing it as the westernmost population of the Pacific walrus.

Distribution and populations

The latest estimate, based on a global census conducted in 1990, places the current population of the Pacific walrus at approximately 200,000 individuals. The majority of the Pacific walrus population spends the summer north of the Bering Strait, in the Chukchi Sea along the northern coast of eastern Siberia, near Wrangel Island, in the Beaufort Sea along the northern coast of Alaska, and is also found in waters between these locations. A small number of males are found in summer in the Gulf of Anadyr, on the southern coast of the Chukotka Peninsula in Siberia, and also in Bristol Bay. In spring and autumn they concentrate from the western coast of Alaska to the Gulf of Anadyr. They winter in the southern parts of the Bering Sea, along the eastern coast of Siberia south to the northern Kamchatka Peninsula, and along the southern coast of Alaska. The 28,000-year-old fossilized remains of a walrus were found near San Francisco Bay, showing the walrus' distribution as far north as the coast of northern California during the last Ice Age.
The Atlantic walrus has been nearly extirpated by uncontrolled commercial fishing, and its population is significantly lower. It is currently difficult to accurately estimate the number, but it probably does not exceed 20 thousand individuals. This population is distributed from Arctic Canada, Greenland, Spitsbergen, and also in the western region of the Russian Arctic. Based on the vast geographic distribution and movement data, there are eight subpopulations of the Atlantic walrus, five in the west and three in the east of Greenland. The Atlantic walrus formerly occupied a range extending south to Cape Cod and was found in large numbers in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. In April 2006, the northwestern Atlantic walrus population was listed as nearly extinct in Canada by the Canadian Species at Risk Act (Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador).
The isolated Laptev walrus population is localized throughout the year in the central and western regions of the Laptev Sea, in the easternmost region of the Kara Sea, and in the westernmost part of the East Siberian Sea. The current number is estimated at 5-10 thousand individuals.

Behavior

Laptev walrus - these huge, clumsy animals on land that inhabit the Far North, live mainly near the coast and rarely undertake significant travel. Walruses are sociable and are mostly found in herds; courageously protect each other: in general, walruses in the water are dangerous opponents, as they can capsize or break a boat with their tusks. They themselves rarely attack boats. The herd always posts sentries. Walruses have a well-developed sense of smell, and they sense a person at a considerable distance, so they try to approach them against the wind. Noticing the danger, the sentry roars (which in walruses is something between the mooing of a cow and a rude bark) or jolts wakes up the others, the animals rush into the sea, almost simultaneously go under the water and can stay there without air for up to 10 minutes. The walrus' food consists mainly of elasmobranchs and other benthic invertebrates; walruses sometimes eat fish. In some cases, walruses may attack seals or eat carrion. They keep in groups, females live separately. Walrus cubs are born once every three to four years. Their mother feeds them milk for up to a year; young walruses begin to eat other food at 6 months. They stay with their mother until they are two or three years old. All members of the walrus herd protect the walruses and help them when necessary. If, for example, one of the cubs gets tired of swimming, then it costs him nothing to climb onto the back of one of the adults to rest there peacefully. In general, mutual support and assistance are characteristic of walruses to a very large extent.
There is an opinion that the huge fangs serve mainly for digging out the said mollusks at the bottom, as well as for protection. Also, based on observations of the nature of wear of tusks and the abrasion of vibrissae on the face of walruses, it was suggested that walruses most likely dig the ground not with their tusks, but with the upper edge of their snout, while the tusks play a mainly social role, since they are used in establishing hierarchical relationships and when demonstrating a threat. In addition, they can be used to make and support holes in ice and to “anchor” to the ice to prevent slipping in strong winds or currents. Observations of walruses in zoos and similar institutions have shown that they often use their tusks in fights among themselves, especially during the mating period. Thanks to the fact that walruses use their tusks to help themselves climb onto ice floes or rocky shores, they received their generic name: “odobenus” in Greek means “walking with teeth” or “walking on teeth.”

Enemies of Walruses

Commercial hunting of walruses is currently prohibited by law in all countries where it is common, despite this, to a limited extent, fishing is allowed to indigenous peoples, whose existence is closely connected with the hunting of this species. Among them are the Chukchi and Eskimos.
Walrus hunting takes place towards the end of summer. Traditionally, all parts of the harvested walrus are used. The meat is often canned and is an important source of protein during the long winter. Fins are fermented and stored as a delicacy until spring. Fangs and bones have historically been used as tools, as well as as ornamental materials. Melted lard is used for heating and lighting. The durable hide is used as rope and for building shelters, as well as for covering boats. Waterproof capes are made from the intestines and stomach. While modern technology has replaced many aspects of walrus use, walrus meat remains an essential part of the indigenous diet, just as tusk crafts form an important part of folklore for many communities.
Walrus hunting is regulated by environmental and resource organizations in Russia, the United States, Canada and Denmark, as well as representatives of hunting communities. It is estimated that between four and seven thousand Pacific walruses are hunted in Alaska and Russia, including a significant proportion (about 42%) of animals injured or lost during hunting. Several hundred individuals are seized annually near Greenland. The impact of this level of fishing on the population is difficult to assess because the population size is currently not well established. However, such important parameters as fertility and mortality rates are unknown.
The impact of global climate change on the walrus population is another factor to consider. In particular, the reduction in the extent and thickness of pack ice has been well documented. It is on this ice that walruses form rookeries during the reproductive period for birth and mating. As a hypothesis, it is hypothesized that decreasing pack ice thickness in the Bering Sea has led to a reduction in suitable resting areas near optimal feeding areas. As a result, the duration of the mother's absence from the nurse increases, which ultimately leads to nutritional stress or a decrease in the reproductive contribution of females. However, scientists still have little data, which makes it difficult to make a reliable conclusion about the impact of climate change on population trends.
The IUCN list currently lists the walrus as Data Insufficient. The Atlantic and Laptev subspecies living in Russia are included in the Red Book of Russia and classified as category 2 (declining in numbers) and category 3 (rare), respectively. Trade in crafts made from walrus tusks and bones is regulated by the international convention CITES, Appendix 3. The legislation of the Russian Federation regulates the distribution of trophy products among indigenous residents completely free of charge and only for personal use. Currently, commercial hunting of walruses is prohibited in all countries.

Interesting Facts

Walrus baculum processed by Aleuts. Length 56 cm.
— The walrus’ baculum (the bone contained in the penis) is about 50 cm long. Both in terms of the absolute length of the baculum and relative to body length, the walrus confidently holds the record among mammals. This is where the curse word “walrus horseradish” came from.
— Swimming in an ice hole in winter is called winter swimming.