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Fishin'for Facts:
Walruses
Common name: walrus
Scientific names: Pacific walrus: Odobenus rosmarus divergens
Atlantic walrus: Odobenus rosmarus rosmarus
 | Size |
Length: males 3.15 meters (10.3 feet)
females 2.6 meters (8.5 feet)
calves 1.4 meters (4.5 feet)Weight: males 1,215 kg (2680 pounds); Maximum weight 1,500 kg (3308 pounds)
females 812 kg (2,000 pounds)
calves 85 kg (187 pounds)
Atlantic walruses are slightly smaller
| What do they eat? |
Dinner sucks - at least for a walrus. A walrus eats clams, snails, worms, crustaceans, cephalopods, sea cucumbers, and other animals found on the bottom of the ocean. They suck the meat out of the clam shell.
To find their prey, they use their sensitive whiskers to feel their way through the sand. Walruses also have a cool way of uncovering their food. They take in a big mouthful of water and squirt it at the sand ocean floor. This moves the sand out of the way exposing a tasty morsel like a clam or worm.
Did you know, though, that some walruses have been known to hunt and eat seals? These walruses are often larger than other walruses and have "grease-stained skin."
| Walrus Highlights: |
Walruses are a WhaleTimes favorite. They are powerful, social animals. Walruses skin can be as much as 6 inches thick on their neck. As most people know, they also have tusks. The tusks can be as long as 1 meter (3.2 feet) long. The tusks are used to establish dominance, defend themselves and to help them climb out of the water on to the ice.
Walruses, like most other mammals, have live birth. The calf is usually born on the ice. Mama walruses are pregnant for 15 to 16 months. The calf can nurse up to two years.
A walrus can live up to 16 to 30 years.
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