Atlantic Walrus

Fascinating facts about the Atlantic Walrus

• Atlantic bulls tip the scales at about 900 kg (2,000 lb), roughly a tenth lighter than their Pacific cousins that can top 2,000 kg (4,400 lb). This 10-20% size gap means Atlantic males are still massive, big enough to rival elephant seals, yet their lighter build may help them maneuver on thinner ice where they spend most of their lives, a crucial advantage as climate change thins their habitat.
• Walrus tusks can grow up to a full metre (3 ft 3 in) and weigh as much as 5.4 kg (12 lb), with males sporting slightly longer, thicker versions. These ivory spears aren't just for show; they break through up to 20 cm of ice and act as levers for hauling the animal onto floes.
• A walrus's whisker carpet holds 400-700 stiff vibrissae arranged in 13-15 rows, each up to 30 cm (12 in) long. Packed with nerves and blood vessels, they can feel objects as thin as 3 mm and as narrow as 2 mm, letting the animal sift through the dark seafloor for clams without seeing them, an adaptation that fuels its massive daily intake of benthic mollusks.
• Walruses reproduce at a glacial pace: females give birth only every two years because ovulation is halted until the calf is fully weaned. With a gestation of 15-16 months and calves weighing 45-75 kg at birth, this makes the walrus the pinniped with the lowest reproductive rate.
• After centuries of commercial hunting that drove numbers down, Atlantic walrus groups remain fragmented and far below historic levels. Although protections have allowed some rebound, today the Atlantic subspecies exists in scattered, low-density colonies.

Sources

Every fact above was checked against these pages, and kept only where one of them states it.

• Wikipedia

At a glance

About the Atlantic Walrus

On Arctic beaches where the wind cuts like a blade, Atlantic walruses pile together by the thousand, a mass of tusks and blubber that seems almost prehistoric. These deep-diving giants use sensitive whiskers to detect clams hidden in total darkness on the seafloor. As sea ice vanishes, their ancient rhythms of life are being forced onto shrinking shores.

Atlantic Walrus photographed on Feravox

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