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"A walrus's tusks are giant teeth that keep growing and can reach about three feet long."
The walrus is a giant Arctic sea mammal with long ivory tusks, a thick mustache of whiskers, and a heavy, blubbery body. Walruses dive for clams on the...
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Hauling its massive, blubber-laden bulk onto the shifting sea ice of the Arctic, the walrus (Odobenus rosmarus) is an undeniable titan of the polar extremes. Instantly recognizable by its magnificent ivory tusks, stiff, bristling mustache, and deeply wrinkled skin, the walrus is one of the largest flippered marine mammals on Earth. These highly social, raucous animals gather by the thousands in tightly packed herds, filling the frigid air with their bellows, grunts, and roars.
But there is far more to the walrus than its imposing size and noisy demeanor. It is an incredibly specialized benthic predator, uniquely equipped to survive in some of the most unforgiving environments on the planet. From their highly sensitive whiskers that map the pitch-black seafloor in search of clams, to their unique method of "tooth-walking" across the ice, the walrus is an evolutionary fascinating example. Today, however, this iconic species faces an unprecedented challenge, as the rapidly warming climate relentlessly erodes the floating sea ice they depend upon for their very survival.
The walrus occupies a unique branch on the evolutionary tree of marine mammals, being the sole surviving species in its entire taxonomic family.
Walruses belong to the clade Pinnipedia, which also includes true seals (Phocidae) and eared seals like sea lions (Otariidae). However, the walrus is placed in its own distinct family, Odobenidae. The genus name Odobenus is derived from Greek words meaning "tooth-walker," a highly accurate description of how they use their massive tusks to drag their heavy bodies out of the water and onto the ice. Scientists generally recognize two distinct subspecies: the Atlantic walrus (Odobenus rosmarus rosmarus) and the slightly larger Pacific walrus (Odobenus rosmarus divergens).
A walrus is a creature built for extreme cold and deep diving, characterized by immense bulk. Adult males (bulls) are significantly larger than females (cows), reaching lengths of 11.5 feet and weighing a staggering 3,700 pounds—heavier than a compact car. To survive the freezing Arctic waters, a walrus is insulated by a layer of highly vascularized blubber that can be up to 6 inches thick, comprising nearly a third of the animal's total body weight.
Their most famous physical features are their enormous tusks. Present in both males and females, these tusks are actually continuously growing upper canine teeth that can reach lengths of up to 3 feet in large males. The tusks are multipurpose tools: they are used to break through thick sea ice to create breathing holes, to haul their massive weight out of the water, and as formidable weapons to establish dominance or defend against polar bears.
Surrounding their tusks is a broad snout covered in a thick, stiff mustache of roughly 400 to 700 highly sensitive vibrissae (whiskers). Because the Arctic seafloor is dark and murky, walruses rely almost entirely on these whiskers to detect the shapes and contours of buried prey.
Interestingly, a walrus's skin color fluctuates wildly based on its activity and temperature. In freezing water, blood flow to the skin is heavily restricted to conserve core heat, making the walrus appear a ghostly pale grey or white. When they haul out onto the ice and bask in the sun, blood rushes back to the skin's surface, turning them a vibrant, sunburned pink or cinnamon brown. They also possess specialized air sacs in their necks (pharyngeal pouches) that they can inflate like internal life jackets, allowing them to sleep vertically in the water with their heads bobbing above the surface.
The walrus is a circumpolar species, distributed throughout the shallow, coastal waters of the Arctic Ocean and the adjacent sub-Arctic seas. Their range spans across North America, Europe, and Asia, encompassing the waters of the United States (Alaska), Canada, Russia, Norway (Svalbard), and Greenland.
Their habitat requires a highly specific combination of two factors: shallow, productive waters where they can dive to the seafloor to feed, and reliable access to sea ice or rocky coastal beaches to rest (haul out), molt, and give birth. The Pacific walrus relies heavily on the seasonal, floating pack ice of the Bering and Chukchi seas, migrating north and south as the ice expands and retreats.
Despite their massive size and intimidating tusks, walruses do not hunt large prey. They are highly specialized benthic (seafloor) feeders, preying primarily on bivalve mollusks such as clams and mussels, supplemented by sea snails, worms, sea cucumbers, and shrimp.
A walrus feeding dive typically lasts 5 to 8 minutes, descending to depths of roughly 30 to 100 meters. Once on the seafloor, they drag their muzzles through the sediment, using their highly sensitive whiskers to locate buried clams. They do not use their tusks to dig. Once a clam is located, the walrus does not crush the shell. Instead, it seals its thick lips to the shell, rapidly retracts its piston-like tongue, and creates a massive vacuum within its mouth. This suction is so powerful that it instantly rips the soft meat out of the shell, leaving the intact, empty shell on the seafloor. A hungry walrus is a gluttonous feeder, capable of consuming up to 6,000 clams in a single, marathon feeding session.
Walruses are highly gregarious and incredibly social animals, rarely found alone. They spend much of their time hauled out on the ice or coastal beaches, where they gather in massive, tightly packed herds that can number in the tens of thousands. They are highly tactile, preferring to lie physically piled on top of one another for warmth and social bonding.
These massive herds are intensely loud and chaotic. Walruses are highly vocal, producing an array of snorts, bellows, grunts, and roars to communicate, establish dominance, and locate their calves. During the mating season, males produce a bizarre, bell-like chiming sound underwater using their inflatable neck pouches to attract females.
Within the herd, a strict hierarchy is established, largely determined by body size and tusk length. Animals with the longest, thickest tusks are dominant and claim the best resting spots in the center of the herd. Conflicts are usually resolved through aggressive posturing and tusk-thrusting displays, though bloody fights do occasionally occur.
The reproductive rate of the walrus is one of the slowest of any pinniped. Mating occurs in mid-winter in the freezing water. The gestation period is unusually long, lasting roughly 15 to 16 months, which includes a period of delayed implantation where the fertilized egg halts development for several months to ensure the calf is born during the optimal spring migration.
The female gives birth to a single calf on the sea ice. The calf is born weighing about 140 pounds and is capable of swimming almost immediately. The bond between mother and calf is exceptionally strong and fiercely protective; a mother will aggressively fend off predators and often carries her tired calf on her back while swimming.
Because walrus milk is incredibly rich in fat, the calf grows rapidly but will nurse for up to two years, remaining with its mother long after it begins foraging for solid food. Females only give birth every three years. In the wild, a walrus can live for 30 to 40 years, provided they evade predation from polar bears and orcas.
(Population and conservation trend data sourced from the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species)
The walrus is currently classified as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, with its global population facing a significant decreasing trend.
The most dire and immediate threat to the walrus is anthropogenic climate change. The Arctic is warming at a rate nearly four times faster than the global average, leading to the rapid disappearance of summer sea ice. Pacific walruses, which rely on floating pack ice as a resting platform above their shallow feeding grounds, are being forced to swim immense distances to coastal shores. This results in massive, overcrowded coastal haul-outs on land, where stampedes caused by sudden noises (like airplanes or predators) routinely crush and kill hundreds of young calves. The loss of sea ice also forces them to expend more energy swimming, significantly impacting their overall health and reproductive success.
To learn more about the walrus and the impacts of a warming Arctic, consult the following authoritative resources:
A walrus's tusks are giant teeth that keep growing and can reach about three feet long.
The name walrus comes from words meaning 'tooth-walker,' because it uses its tusks to haul out onto ice.
Walruses have hundreds of stiff whiskers that feel around the dark seafloor for clams.
A hungry walrus can slurp up thousands of clams in a single meal using strong suction.
A walrus's skin can look pale when it is cold and turn pinkish when it warms up in the sun.
Walruses are very social and pile together by the thousands on ice and beaches.
Select a question to reveal the answer.
A walrus is a large Arctic sea mammal with long tusks, bristly whiskers, and a thick, blubbery body. It belongs to the same group of flippered mammals as seals and sea lions.
Walruses live in the cold Arctic seas around Alaska, Canada, Russia, Greenland, and Norway. They rest on floating sea ice and on rocky coastal beaches.
Walruses mostly eat shellfish from the seafloor, especially clams. They use their whiskers to find food in the dark and strong suction to slurp the soft animal out of its shell.
Both male and female walruses have tusks. They use them to haul their bodies onto the ice, to show off to rivals, and to keep breathing holes open in the sea ice.
Walruses are huge. Big males can weigh over a ton and a half, more than a small car, while females are about half that size.
Walruses are listed as Vulnerable. Their biggest worry is climate change, because melting sea ice takes away the resting places they need near their feeding grounds.
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