6 



NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA 74 



Fig. 3. Current world distribution of walruses. 



1758, and the sixth as "the Pacific walrus," O. r. divergens Illiger, 1811. The 

 taxonomic status of the population in the Laptev Sea is uncertain. It has been 

 included by some workers in the Atlantic subspecies and by others in the Pacific 

 subspecies. It is regarded by a few biologists in the Soviet Union as a third 

 subspecies, O. r. laptevi Chapskii, 1940. For the sake of convenience in this 

 report, I exclude the Laptev walrus from O. r. divergens, although I feel that its 

 strongest affinities lie there. 



The Pacific walrus differs from those of the North Atlantic region principally 

 in size, being larger of body than any others (including the Laptev form) and 

 having relatively much larger tusks (Heptner et al. 1976). Apparently, it differs 

 also in having a broader, more "square" snout (as opposed to a narrower, more 

 sloping snout) and much greater "lumpiness" of the skin on the neck and 



