Wildlife
Walruses are famous for their tusks and are the only pinnipeds (true seals, sea lions and fur seals) that have them. The tusks can grow up to 1m in length, and males tend to have larger tusks than females. The tusks are used for keeping breathing holes in the ice open, for fighting and for helping the walruses haul themselves out of the water on to an ice floe.
Scientific name: Odobenus rosmarus
Rank: Species
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Wary walruses
The walruses must be wary of the large numbers of polar bears gathering on the beaches.
The walruses must be wary of the large numbers of polar bears gathering on the beaches.
Walrus beach
The annual walrus gathering on Wrangel Island.
The annual walrus gathering on Wrangel Island.
Walrus drumming
Rival male walruses use a distinctive rhythym to proclaim their territory and attract a mate.
Rival male walruses use a distinctive rhythym to proclaim their territory and attract a mate.
In the pink
Walruses holiday on crowded beaches for the annual moult.
Walruses holiday on crowded beaches for the annual moult.
Polar bear walrus hunt
Male polar bears take on ever more deadly adversaries as their hunting fields diminish.
It took two years and three shoots to bag new perspectives on the obviously high-risk hunting strategies of polar bears. The effort paid off when this desperately hungry male polar bear, followed on his epic swim in search of food, was observed trying to predate fully grown adult walruses. Usually they would go after cubs, but increasingly desperate polar conditions are pushing them to ever more ambitious attacks.
The Walrus can be found in a number of locations including: Arctic, Asia, Europe, North America, Russia. Find out more about these places and what else lives there.
The following habitats are found across the Walrus distribution range. Find out more about these environments, what it takes to live there and what else inhabits them.
Discover what these behaviours are and how different plants and animals use them.
Additional data source: Animal Diversity Web
Data deficient
Population trend: Unknown
Year assessed: 2008
Classified by: IUCN 3.1
The walrus (Odobenus rosmarus) is a large flippered marine mammal with a discontinuous circumpolar distribution in the Arctic Ocean and sub-Arctic seas of the Northern Hemisphere. The walrus is the only living species in the Odobenidae family and Odobenus genus. It is subdivided into three subspecies: the Atlantic walrus (O. rosmarus rosmarus) which lives in the Atlantic Ocean, the Pacific walrus (O. rosmarus divergens) which lives in the Pacific Ocean, and O. rosmarus laptevi, which lives in the Laptev Sea.
The walrus is easily recognized by its prominent tusks, whiskers and great bulk. Adult Pacific males can weigh more than 1,700 kilograms (3,700 lb) and, among pinnipeds, are exceeded in size only by the two species of elephant seals. It resides primarily in shallow oceanic shelf habitat, spending a significant proportion of its life on sea ice in pursuit of its preferred diet of benthic bivalve mollusks. It is a relatively long-lived, social animal and is considered a keystone species in Arctic marine ecosystems.
The walrus has played a prominent role in the cultures of many indigenous Arctic peoples, who have hunted the walrus for its meat, fat, skin, tusks and bone. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the walrus was the object of heavy commercial exploitation for blubber and ivory and its numbers declined rapidly. Its global population has since rebounded, though the Atlantic and Laptev populations remain fragmented and at historically depressed levels.
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Coastal
Intertidal zone
Shallow seas
Polar
Migration
Adapted to swimming
Carnivorous
Colonial
Co-operative breeding
Hierarchical
Tactile sense
Acoustic communication
Maternal care
Moulting
Polygynous
Active at birth
Social
Cold tolerant
Sexual dimorphism
Visual communication
Viviparous