486 



RECORDS OF BIG GAME 



WALEUS (Odobaenus rosmarus and 0. obesus). 



The unwieldy seal-like animals commonly known by a corruption 

 of the Scandinavian name valross (whale-horse) form in some respects 

 a connecting link between the true seals and the eared seals, 

 although differing from both in the huge upper tusks which depend 

 from the muzzle of males and females alike, as also by the thick 

 yellow bristles covering the muzzle itself. Like the true seals, walruses 

 have lost all traces of external ears, but, unlike the former, and like 

 the eared seals, their huge hind-flippers are turned forwards beneath the 

 body when on land. The molar teeth, which are adapted for crushing 

 the shells on which these monsters feed, have simple flattened crowns, 

 quite unlike those of seals. Although young and adolescent walruses 

 have fairly thick coats of yellowish fur, in old individuals the tough 

 hide becomes almost bare, except for the aforesaid bristles. Walruses 

 are estimated to attain a weight of from 2250 to 3000 Ibs. 



Walruses are exclusively confined to the Arctic seas, where they 

 spend much of their time on the ice. There are two kinds, now 

 generally regarded as separate species ; the one confined to the North 

 Atlantic, and the other to the North Pacific. The distribution of these 

 animals is by no means of circumpolar extent, the Atlantic Walrus 

 (O. rosmarus} apparently not ranging on the Asiatic coast east of the 

 mouth of the river Lena ; while in America they do not appear to 

 inhabit the vast extent of coast lying between the western shore of 

 Hudson Bay and Alaska. The Pacific walrus, which is the larger 

 animal of the two, with considerably the longer tusks, always had a 

 restricted range, and is now becoming very scarce. In European 

 museums it appears to be represented only by skulls and tusks, and 

 even these are rare. Formerly the Atlantic walrus occurred in count- 

 less thousands, but in accessible situations its numbers have been 

 greatly reduced, owing to incessant persecution for the sake of its 

 valuable oil and ivory. Between 1870 and 1880 at least 100,000 of 

 these animals are estimated to have been slain. 



The largest walrus ever shot by Mr. W. Livingstone Learmonth 

 measured 1 2 feet 8 inches in length, and the tusks when extracted 

 measured 25|- inches in length and 8|- in circumference at the largest 

 part, but, as is the case with nearly all old bull walrus, the tusks were 

 much broken at the points. 



