1909.] A YOUNG WALRUS. 731 



from the shells, but showed no knowledge of how to extract them 

 for themselves, although they would bring upamussels from the 

 bottom of their pond. They also ate slices of squid readily, but, 

 although they would turn them over as if hunting for something, 

 they would not eat edible seaweed, green laver {fJlva), ordinary 

 seaweed {^Fucus vesiculosa), or laminaria. 



Walruses have been stated by Malmgren to subsist for two 

 years almost solely on the milk of the mother, but it seems 

 probable from the way these young animals would suck up soft 

 food from the hand or seek it out when it was placed on the 

 ground, that in the natural condition they subsist partly on 

 chewed food accidentally or designedly dropped from the mouth of 

 the mother*. Whether their diet in the Society's Gardens was 

 natural or not, it was evidently sufficient. One of the two speci- 

 mens died as the result of a most unfortunate accident after it had 

 been with us for about a week, and the other died of a severe 

 double-pneumonia after a few weeks, but in each case the body 

 was thoroughly well-nourished. 



These young Walruses were extremely docile and intelligent. 

 They made friends wdth the keeper very quickly and would 

 follow him about, and would readily come out of the water to be 

 fondled by anyone who took an interest in them. On one 

 occasion a Sea-Lion, by a remarkable feat of agility climbed the 

 barrier and came into the small portion of the pond occupied by 

 the surviving Walrus. In the morning, the two animals were 

 found peacefully sharing the sleeping-den. But the sea-lion had 

 bitten the Walrvis, although not seriously, and for a day or two 

 afterwards no persuasion would induce the Walrus to leave its 

 den and go out where it could hear and see the Sea-Lions. 



It has been suggested that the pads of strong pelhicid bristles, 

 which form the drooping, whisker-like masses depending from the 

 upper lip on either side of the nostrils, may serve as a kind of 

 strainer. However this may be, they certainly must serve to 

 protect the muzzle from injury. The young Walruses constantly 

 rubbed their muzzles over the surface of the ground or against 

 the sides and bottom of the tank. In moving on land, they not 

 infrequently used the muzzle in progression, raising themselves 

 partly from the ground with a considerable portion of their 

 weight resting on these bristly pads. Moreover, in the rather 

 laborious task of climbing out of the water on to the rocky edge 

 of the pond, they almost invariably raised the head out of the 

 water, pressing these bristles flat against the rock, and so to speak 

 heaving themselves up as if with the aid of the fore -flippers they 

 were on the way to stand on their heads. The rough bristles not 

 only protected their muzzles bvit gave them a better hold on a 

 slippery surface. 



* [Since reading the above paper I have been informed by Mr. B. C. Johaiinesen, 

 who has frequently been to Franz Josef Land and who has watched Wah-uses in 

 their natural state, that the young: stay with the mother for about three years, and 

 that they are fed on food which she chews and throws on the ground. He added 

 that mussels and other shell-fish are the staple food.] 



