Are walrus afraid of anything? Want to Learn More About Walrus?

Informative website with walrus-related infor- The Walrus Walrus are wary of two predators: polar mation and activities: http:// bears and humans. Polar bears occasionally www.seaworld.org prey on young walrus and injured adults. Walrus should be especially afraid of hu- Interesting movie about walrus can be found at mans. In the past Inuit relied on every part of www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/toothwalkers- the walrus to fill some need in their lives. giants-of-the-arctic-ice-introduction/2291 They used walrus meat and blubber for food and oil. They used the tough brown hide to The World of the Walrus by Richard Perry make shelters, rope, and harnesses for their (New York: Taplinger Publishing Company, 1968). dogs. Today the most prized part is the ivory from walrus tusks; Inuit use it to carve tools Seals, Sea Lions, and Walrus by Ellen Rab- and make ornaments. inowich (New York: FranklinWatts, 1980).

For a long time, traders from around the Knock! Knock! ©PMAM world, including the United States, hunted Who’s there? walrus commercially. However, The Con- Walrus. gressional Walrus Act Walrus who? of 1941 banned all Why do you Walrus ask silly questions? U.S. commercial hunt- ing. This means that only the Inuit can le- What do walrus eat? gally hunt walrus for How fast can walrus swim? their daily needs. What do they use their tusks for? ©PMAM

Walrus by the numbers: ©PMAM 1. Male walrus can weigh up to ____ pounds. The Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum 2. Walrus blubber can be up to ___ inches Bowdoin College thick. 9500 College Station Brunswick, Maine 04011-8495 3. Walrus eat about __% of their body weight every day. www.bowdoin.edu/arctic-museum 4. Walrus can swim as fast as ____ miles Phone: 207-725-3416 per hour. Email: [email protected] Compiled by Tucker Harrison, Class of 2006 5. A walrus tusk can grow to be __ inches. Made possible by the support and generosity

of the Friends of Bowdoin. Bowdoin College

40 5: 21.7; 4: 5; 3: 6; 2: 3,000; 1: Answers: What is a Toothwalker? What do walrus like to eat? Did you know...

The walrus’s scientific name, Odobenus Adult walrus typically eat about 5% of their  That a baby walrus weighs 100 rosmarus, means “toothwalker” because total body weight per day. That means a pounds? walrus use their ivory tusks to pull them- 2,000-pound walrus eats an average of 100  The word “walrus” originated with selves out of the water onto the ice. There pounds of food every day! Their diet con- the Danish word hvalros, meaning are about 250,000 walrus in the world. Fe- sists mostly of clams, marine worms, and “sea horse” or sea cow? male walrus, called cows, can weigh up to fish. In fact, adult walrus can eat as many  That walrus accidentally swallow 1,500 pounds; male walrus, called bulls, as 6,000 clams in one feeding! They can pebbles and small stones while can weigh up to 3,000 pounds. Walrus are dive to depths of 200 feet in search of food. feasting on clams? generally brown. However, they turn a pale Walrus have lots of whiskers called vibris-  That walrus don’t chew their food? -white color if they spend too much time in sae. They use these vibrissae to feel for What terrible table manners! cold water, and pink if they lie in the sun clams and other food on the ocean floor.  That a young walrus may ride on for too long. Sometimes they try to uncover clams by his or her mother’s back? filling their mouths with water and squirt-  That walrus produce growls, grunts, Walrus are ing it out like a powerful fire-hose at the barks, soft whistles, rasps, and mammals. That sea floor. clicks? means that they  That walrus migrate primarily by can’t breathe If swimming is so good for your figure, how swimming, but sometimes hitch a through gills like do you explain what walrus look like? ride on an ice floe? fish can. Instead, like humans, they have to hold their ©PMAM How do walrus travel? breath underwater. In fact, a walrus can What do they use their tusks for? hold its breath for up to ten minutes! Walrus like to travel in herds or small fami- ly groups. It is rare to find a walrus alone. Walrus use their tusks to pull themselves out How does a walrus keep warm? Much like birds that travel in flocks, walrus of the water and to display social dominance- migrate in herds each year. In fact, some -who is the strongest, oldest, and toughest Walrus inhabit the coastal areas of Alaska, migrate more than 1,863 miles each year. walrus of the herd. Females’ tusks can grow Canada, and Greenland, regions of the Arc- to a length of about 30 inches, and males’ tic where the air temperature ranges from Walrus travel primarily by swimming. tusks can grow to a - + about 50 to 50 degrees F. How do walrus They spend about two-thirds of their lives length of 40 inches. stay warm in these temperatures? Walrus in the water. By using their hind flippers That’s more than have a thick layer of insulating fat called like a propeller, they can swim at an aver- three feet! Tusks blubber; this layer can be up to 6 inches age speed of 4.3 miles per hour (mph) and grow for about 15 thick! In addition to their blubber, walrus as fast as 21.7 mph. Like all good swim- years to reach these keep each other warm by staying in close mers, walrus know that they need to rest. great lengths, but physical contact. By sleeping in a heap or The herd climbs out of the water onto a sometimes tusks are swimming close together in the water, wal- haul-out area that the Inuit call an ooglit. broken or chipped in rus share their body heat to stay warm and Here, they pile up and rest in the warm sun. quarrels between toasty. walrus. ©PMAM