A single walrus rests on an iceberg.

Walrus

Odobenus rosmarus

The walrus is a large marine mammal with flippers, a broad head, short muzzle, small eyes, tusks and whiskers. Walruses are cinnamon brown in color. They are able to turn their hind flippers forward to aid in movement on land. Their front flippers are large and each has five digits. Males have special air sacs that are used to make a bell-like sound. Both males and females have large tusks that are used for defense, cutting through ice and getting out of the water. The tusks can be more than three feet long in males and about two and a half feet long in females. Scientists recognize two subspecies of walrus – the Atlantic walrus and the Pacific walrus.

Length 9-11 feet (males); 7-10 feet (females)
Weight up to 3,700 lbs (males); up to 2,700 lbs (females)
Lifespan Up to 40 years

Diet

Staples: Clams, mussels and other bottom dwelling (or benthic) organisms that they locate through their whiskers.
Also known to eat carcasses of young seals when food is scarce.

Population

The worldwide walrus population is about 250,000 animals. Pacific walruses number more than 200,000. The Pacific walrus population has been severely reduced by hunting several times in the past. Their numbers have rebounded after these severe reductions.

Range

The walrus is circumpolar in its range but they are found in geographically separate areas. The Pacific walrus is found in the Bering, Chukchi, and Laptev Sea, while the Atlantic walrus inhabits the coastal regions of northeastern Canada and Greenland.

Behavior

Walruses are very social animals and congregate in large numbers. They haul out in herds and males and females form separate herds during the non-breeding season. They establish dominance through threat displays involving tusks, bodies and aggression. The largest walruses are the most aggressive. Walruses spend two thirds of their lives in the water. Most walrus groups migrate north in the summer and south in the winter, and females haul out on the ice to give birth.

Reproduction
Mating Season Between December and March
Gestation 15-16 months
Litter Size Generally 1 calf, though twins have been recorded.
Calves are ashen gray to brown in color and weigh in from about 99-165 lbs at birth. They turn reddish brown within a few weeks and grow rapidly on their mothers’ milk. Females with young calves gather in ‘nursery herds’ to help one another raise their young. Calves are weaned from their mother at about two years of age.

Threats

Historically, walruses were hunted commercially for their ivory tusks, oil and hides. Today they are hunted to a lesser degree. But their biggest threat to-date is climate change, which affects the sea ice they need to haul out on.

Defenders of Wildlife is working with leaders in Congress and elsewhere to stop global warming and save walruses and their habitat.

Legal Status/Protection

*Marine Mammal Protection Act, **CITES, Appendix III

* The Marine Mammal Protection Act prohibits, with certain exceptions, the killing or harassment of marine mammals in U.S. waters and by U.S. citizens on the high seas. It also prohibits the importation of marine mammals and marine mammal products into the U.S.

**Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, an international treaty with more than 144 member countries. Walruses are listed under CITES Appendix III, at the request of Canada. Appendix III species are included at the request of a nation that already regulates trade in the species and that needs the cooperation of other countries to prevent unsustainable or illegal exploitation.

How You Can Help

Help walruses and other wildlife by adopting an animal at our Wildlife Adoption Center.
Take Action for Wildlife at our Wildlife Action Center.