Walrus

Etymology

The walrus is a member of order Carnivora and is the only species in the family Odobenidae. Odobenus is compounded from "odous" Greek for tooth and "baino" Greek for walk, based on observations of walruses using their tusks to pull themselves out of the water. Rosmarus is based on the Swedish word for walrus. Divergens is based on Latin for turning apart, referring to the tusks.

Life cycle

Walruses mate in the water and give birth on land or ice floes. They feed in the water, diving to depths of 300 ft (91 m), sometimes staying under for as long as a half hour. Clams and mollusks form a large part of their diet. Male walruses compete for territory, often fighting each other; the winners in these fights breeds with large numbers of females. Older male walruses are frequently seen with large scars from these battles, which are bloody but rarely fatal.

Pacific walruses spend the summer north of the Bering Strait in the Chukchi Sea along the north shore of eastern Siberia, around Wrangel Island, in the Beaufort Sea along the north shore of Alaska, and in the waters between those locations.

Smaller numbers of males summer in the Gulf of Anadyr on the south shore of the Chukchi Peninsula of Siberia and in Bristol Bay off the south shore of southern Alaska west of the Kenai Peninsula.

In the spring and fall they congregate in the Bering Strait, adjacent to the west shores of Alaska, and in the Gulf of Anadyr. They winter to the south in the Bering Sea along the eastern shore of Siberia south to the northern part of the Kamchatka Peninsula, and along the southern shore of Alaska.

The breeding season for walruses is midwinter, a time spent in the southern Bering sea. The males show off in the water for the females who view them from pack ice. Males compete aggressively for this display space with each other. Mating is probably in the water. After fertilization the fertilized egg is dormant for several months, then a gestation period of 11 months follows. When a calf is born it is over 3 ft (1 m) long and able to swim. Birth takes place on the pack ice; the calf nurses for about 2 years, spending 3 to 5 years with its mother. Females are mature at about 6 years, males at 9 or 10. A walrus lives about 40 years.

Life style

Walruses spend about half their time in the water and half their time on beaches or ice floes where they gather in large herds. They may spend several days at a stretch either on land or in the sea. In the sea they sometimes catch fish but generally graze along the sea bottom for clams which they suck from their shells.

Population

There are about 200,000 Pacific walruses; about 3000 are harvested annually by Alaskan natives. They have long tusks, which are elongated canines used for fighting and display. Ivory from the tusks is used for carving. The penis bone of the male is called an oosik by the natives, and is used in making knives. The only natural enemies of the walrus are man and the polar bear. Polar bears hunt walruses by rushing at them, trying to get the herd to flee, then picking off calves or other stragglers.

Walruses are protected by federal law in both the USA and Canada, which set quotas on the yearly harvest. Only under rare circumstances are non-native hunters allowed to legally kill a walrus. The export of raw tusks from Alaska is prohibited, but walrus ivory products may be sold if first sculpted into scrimshaw by a native craftsman. There is a large selection of "pre-ban" walrus ivory available via commercial auction sites such as eBay.

There are about 15,000 Atlantic walruses which live in the Canadian Arctic, the waters of Greenland, and the waters of the western portion of the Russian Arctic. The Atlantic walrus once enjoyed a range that extended south to Cape Cod and were found in large numbers in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

The walrus in culture

In Western culture, the species with its plump body and peacefully sleepy expression is often depicted as a lovable and friendly being in fiction.

A group of people in Bournemouth UK, are great fans of walruses and know them as walri. They have many T-Shirts, toys and Pub quiz teams based around them.

Walruses in literature

Farley Mowat's book Sea of Slaughter has a large section dedicated to the effects of hunting on eastern Canada's walrus population.

Lewis Carroll's famous poem The Walrus and The Carpenter inspired the 1967 song I Am the Walrus by The Beatles.

In Salman Rushdie's children's book Haroun and the Sea of Stories, The Walrus is the name of the imposing Grand Controller of Gup.

Trivia

Savoonga in Alaska calls itself the walrus capital of the world

External links

• Mowat, Farley - Sea of Slaughter (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0770422780/002-2236090-8420045?v=glance&st=*) - Book published in the early 1980s about the hunting of walruses and seals in eastern Canada.
• USGS - Pacific Walrus Research (http://www.absc.usgs.gov/research/walrus/home.html)

There's also a song called "Walrus" by an industrial metal group Ministry from their 2004 album The Houses of the Molé.

And of course The Beatles did a song called I Am the Walrus

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