134 HUNTING IN THE ARCTIC 



ually to the tailless extremity, the form being perfectly 

 adapted to rapid motion through the water. In the 

 walrus the upper canine teeth grow downward to a great 

 length and serve as tools for digging out of the mud the 

 clams and other shell-fish on which the animal lives. We 

 found walrus in water twenty to thirty fathoms deep, 

 undoubtedly just over the areas where suitable food was 

 most abundant. Evidently the beast dives to this great 

 depth and, while standing head downward in the water, 

 grubs up the bivalves from the bottom, feeling them with 

 the stiff bristles of its upper lip and sucking them into its 

 mouth. The great molars crush and eliminate as much 

 of the shells as possible and swaUow the rest. We found 

 quantities of broken shells in their stomachs, and occa- 

 sionally Hve clams hanging to the higher bristles of the 

 muzzle, whence the long tongue could not Hck them off. 

 Seaweed is also found in the stomach, whether swallowed 

 incidentally or by design. Nansen saw one walrus 150 

 miles from land in water more than 12,000 feet deep, 

 evidently far astray. 



To get a sufficient meal the walrus must be able to 

 stay imder water for a considerable time. We watched 

 them for at least a half hour, sleeping at the surface, as 

 is their habit, the lungs inflated, head under, only the 

 round of the back showing above the ripples. 



That they make air holes through thin ice is attested 

 by F. G. Jackson, who watched one lying on its back 

 under the surface enlarging a small hole which it had 

 drilled with its tusks. 



The young are born in the spring, and immediately 

 after occurs the brief mating season. At other times the 

 sexes keep apart. One or two, and sometimes three, 

 young are born, apparently every three years, tenderly 



