Walrus

The seal with a moustache!

There are 2 sub-species of Walrus: the Pacific walrus (Odobenus rosmarus divergens) and the Atlantic walrus (Odobenus rosmarus rosmarus). Walruses live mainly in shallow coastal waters in the Arctic region. They are found off Alaska, northern Canada, the Chukchi sea in Russia, and western Greenland.

Each year they migrate, following the ice south in winter and north in summer.

Hey Good Looking!
The walrus would certainly never win a beauty contest! It has a pair of long, curved tusks and bristly, drooping hair on its upper lip which gave rise to the term 'walrus moustache'.

The tusks are long upper canine teeth which have several uses: to stir up food from the sea bed, to fight other males, and to help the walrus clamber up onto ice. Males display and spar with their tusks for a favoured position at the breeding site. Older males bear many scars from these battles!


A male walrus can grow to 3m long and weighs up to 1,200 kg. Its size and mighty tusks means that it has few enemies, but it may fall prey to a killer whale. Walruses are timid animals aroused only when they face danger. Though their main food is sea molluscs such as mussels and cockles, they sometimes eat other seals.

A fully grown walrus is a strong swimmer with large hind flippers. Since it can hold its breath for only about 12 minutes, it must find food at a depth no greater than about 80m.