ECOLOGY AND BIOLOGY OF THE PACIFIC WALRUS 



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thousands. The herd consisted of adult females with calves, some sexually 

 immature animals of both sexes, and a few adult males. The bear was sneaking up 

 to walruses along the ice. When he was 40 to 50 m from them, he started to run 

 toward them. The frightened animals escaped into the sea, and when the predator 

 reached the ice floe, it was empty. The bear, disappointed, smelled over the spot 

 where he had intended to have his meal, and then slowly continued in the 

 direction of the next group. The bear was rather inclined to approach the groups 

 where there were only females with calves, or else young animals 2 to 3 years old. 

 He approached a herd of adult males cautiously and hesitantly. Conversely, the 

 bulls, feeling their strength, were not frightened by the enemy; they lifted their 

 heads, waiting for him to come nearer. The bear, having approached to 20 m 

 from them, stopped, not daring to move closer. Shaking their heads and showing 

 their powerful tusks, the bulls withdrew into the water. When they were already 

 plunging into the sea, the bear jumped onto the ice floe but, again, with no 

 success. As mentioned previously, the walrus herd stretched along the edge of the 

 ice for several kilometers. While the bear, moving from one end of it to the other, 

 would approach a group of walruses and chase them off into the sea, the next 

 group, still a considerable distance away from him, watched his approach with 

 great attention and then, when he was at a distance of 30 to 40 m, left the ice floe. 

 On one of the floes, the bear managed to catch a young walrus by its hind flippers, 

 at the moment when the latter was about to plunge into the sea. In spite of his 

 great strength, the bear did not succeed in pulling it out of the water; instead, the 

 walrus freed itself and escaped. As a result, the bear chased off the whole 

 settlement without capturing a single walrus" (Nikulin 1941:52-53). 



A similar incident, on Peschan Island in the estuary of the Anabar River, 

 northern Yakutia, was reported by Popov (1958:103): 



The walruses on Peschan Island are frequently bothered by bears, which creep 

 up to them under cover of uneven terrain and of driftwood, of which there usually 

 is an abundance along the shore. Sometimes the bears dig pits in the sand or make 

 a pile in front of themselves, in order to hide from the walruses. We saw a bear in 

 a pit dug in the driftwood within 50 m of the herd, where it watched for a long 

 time. Suddenly, it leaped from its concealment and plunged along the flat terrain 

 toward the walruses. The animals, upon seeing the running bear, rushed into the 

 water, and when the bear reached those on shore, only a few large males 

 remained, and these gradually pivoted into the water, threatening with roars and 

 swinging tusks. The bear in his misfortune was unable to decide whether or not to 

 enter the water and only brandished his paws helplessly and growled in 

 discontent. Not infrequently, in the confusion, the adult walruses crush some 

 young; possibly, at the time of the attack, the bears hope to profit from such 

 accidentally crushed or abandoned young. 



On Peter's Island (Ostrov Petra), northeastern Taimyr, Popov (1960^:97-98) 

 observed a polar bear 



hiding in a sand pit behind a log . . . observing [a group of] walruses from behind 

 and, apparently, was going to attack them. On seeing the people, the bear gave up 

 his hiding place to run directly at the herd. The females with calves and sexually 

 immature animals, which were lying closest to the water, became greatly 

 perturbed and dashed into the sea, where they remained at a distance, not coming 

 out [again] onto the shore. The adult males also abandoned the haulout, but, after 

 the bear left, quickly climbed out onto the shore and lay down in the same place. 

 Some old remains of a young walrus torn up by the bear were located not far from 

 the haulout. 



