THE WALRUS. 



( Trichechus rosmarus.) 



The Walrus (Trichechus rosmarus) 

 is a very fat, clumsy brute, much uglier 

 than his picture, with a coarse, oily skin 

 all wrinkled and scarred ; long, protrud- 

 ing tusks ; bristly whiskers and scuffling 

 flippers that barely serve to move his 

 bulky body over the land. In the water 

 he is more at home, and though it does 

 not require a high degree of strength 

 and skill to dig clams, that being his 

 daily occupation, yet he is able to keep 

 very fat on the fruits of his industry and 

 has much leisure to swim about or doze 

 on ice floes and sea beaches, 

 i It is only in the arctic regions that 

 'Walrus are found. Before the attacks of 

 whalers and ivory hunters they were 

 found as far south as Nova Scotia and 

 the Gulf of St. Lawrence, but now they 

 have retreated as far as possible into the 

 frozen north, living in limited numbers 

 about Hudson's Bay, Davis Straits and 

 Greenland and in Spitzbergen and North- 

 ern Europe. In the northern Pacific be- 

 fore the slaughter began the Walrus 

 swarmed by thousands in the broad, shal- 

 low bays from the Alaskan Peninsula to 

 Point Barrow, where the ice never melts. 



The food of the Walrus consists of 

 mollusks and crustaceans, which he digs 

 from the muddy bottom with his long 

 tusks, and the roots and stalks of sea- 

 weed. He crushes the clams, shells and 

 all, and swallows the mass, leaving diges- 

 tion to proceed as it may. The stomach 

 of a Walrus killed in Bering Sea by Mr. 

 Henry W. Elliott contained more than 

 a bushel of crushed clams in their shells, 

 with enough other food to make half a 

 barrel. 



It is principally for its ivory tusks and 

 the accumulated fat which comes from 

 heavy eating that the Walrus is now 

 being exterminated by whalers and hunt- 

 ers. To the Eskimo the Walrus means 

 life itself. He eats the flesh, burns the 

 fat for fuel and light, makes his boats, 



houses, harness and harpoon lines from 

 the hide and trades what ivory he has 

 not made into implements for the guns 

 and whisky so acceptable to primitive 

 : man. The extermination of the Walrus 

 will probably mean the extermination of 

 the Eskimos, or at least an entire change 

 in their habits of life. 



Although a very fierce looking animal, 

 the Walrus is reputed to be peaceful and 

 inoffensive except when attacked in the 

 water. At such times he has been known 

 to hook his tusks over the edge of the 

 boat and swamp it or even to call in his 

 friends by bull-like roars and smash the 

 boat to pieces. Besides man, his one 

 enemy is the polar bear, which creeps 

 upon him as he sleeps and worries him to 

 death. As the Walrus' skin is anywhere 

 from half an inch to two inches thick and 

 padded out by an average of six inches 

 of fat, it is almost impossible to reach a 

 vital place even with long teeth and bear 

 claws, and the Walrus is often able to 

 flounder into the deep water and escape 

 by remaining under water until the bear 

 has to come up for breath. 



One of the favorite amusements of the 

 Walrus is to float in the water with his 

 hind flippers hung down and his nose 

 comfortably above the wash and either 

 fall asleep or indulge in deep roarings 

 which are said to sound like something 

 between the mooing of a cow and the 

 baying of a mastiff and which often 

 serve, like whistling buoys, to warn sail- 

 ors from rocks and shoals. 



The young are born in the spring, and 

 generally on the ice floes, but being born 

 fat the ice floes are probably as warm to 

 them as is a nest to a little mouse. The 

 mothers show great affection for their 

 young, and will not abandon them in 

 danger, even allowing themselves to be 

 speared while protecting their offspring. 

 As the Walrus are social by nature, wan- 

 dering about in great herds, and as they 



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