Walrus

Introduction( Guy)

There are two type of walrus which is Atlantic walrus and Pacific walrus,
we are going to discuss about Pacific walrus. Pacific walrus or Odobenus
rosmarus divergens is a large mammals that live in the sea as the seal. It
can be 712 feet long and weigh 2 tons for males and 510 feet long,
weigh 1 ton for females. It is approximated to live up to 40 years. They
are social animals that travel and rest in large groups. It can be seen in
shallow waters of the northern Bering and Chukchi seas, and are
occasionally observed in the waters of the Eastern Siberian and Beaufort
seas. Their natural predators are Polar bears, killer whales, and Alaska
Native hunters.They will reproduce a calf every 2 years between
December to March. Their prominent point is the tusks on their mouth,
but they dont use it to hunt but for mating. Two males will compare their
tusks. The one that has the larger tusk will receive the right for mating,
but if they have the same size, they will fight and may stab each other
with their tusks, inflicting bruises and punctures.

Migration(Kim): Pacific Walrus was migrating by following the path of the pack
of ice. However, they may also migrate by swimming too. Some walruses are
migrated more than 3000 kilometers in each year. The young Pacific walrus and
the female are more migratory than the adults male. In summer the walrus will
migrate northward from the Bering Sea to the Chukchi Sea. While during the
winter they willl stay at the Bering Sea. Which during the migration to the
Chukchi Sea, the Pacific walrus calves will be born. However, some of the them
might be still at the Bering sea during the summer. Which when the ice was
melted the walrus then move to the island.

Dispersal:
Dispersal of walruses happen in June. The ice packs in Bering sea begin to
melt and by the end of June, little ice remain intact. The ice packs begin to
shatter in North-western Alaska shore but on the other hand, the ice pack
started to get intact in the Northern part of Chukotka, providing a path for
walruses to disperse. In June, most of the remainder of the population moves
northward through Bering Strait, mainly along the rafted ice that extends to
that area from the eastern end of St. Lawrence Island. At the same time, the

vanguard in the western Chukchi Sea has dispersed to the vicinity of Long
Strait and Wrangell Island.
JUST FOR FUN: Walruses travel either swim or float along the ice-packs!

Foraging:(Non)
Walruses are the specialist species that feed on bivalves which make
them very important to ecosystem. Walruses are feeding at the seafloor and
after they finished their meal there will be the remaining of their food.
Three ways to examine walruses feeding:
(1) The remaining that are able to observe at the seafloor after the
feeding time of walruses for example shells of the preys.
(2) Amount of energy and food that consumed
(3) Directly observe the behaviour and foraging process.
Method that walruses use to exposing their prey:
1)The walruses used their front flippers to create waves which cause
their prey that staying under the floor appear.
2) The walruses used their vibrissae to felt its way through the top-layer
of the seafloor to detect the bivalve siphons.
3) The walruses projected a pressured water from their mouth into the
seafloor to stirred up the seafloor cause the their preys to expose themselves.

Fun Fact: Walruses do not use their tusks for digging on the seafloor for food,
but for mating. When two males come together, they will raise and turn their
heads sideways to display their tusks, and the walrus with smaller tusks will
move away. If the two males have similar sized tusks, they will usually fight and
may stab each other with their tusks, inflicting bruises and punctures.

Bibliography
BASIC FACTS ABOUT WALRUSES. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://www.defenders.org/walrus/basic-facts.
Nette LevermannEmail author, A. G. (2003, OCT 23). Feeding behaviour of free-ranging
walruses with notes on apparent dextrality of flipper use. Retrieved from
http://bmcecol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1472-6785-3-9.
Pacific Walrus (Odobenus rosmarus divergens). (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=walrus.main.
Walrus. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/walrus/.
Fay, F.H. 1982. Ecology and biology of the Pacific walrus, Odobenus rosmarus divergens
illiger. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Washington.14 pp.