ECOLOGY AND BIOLOGY OF THE PAGIFIC WALRUS 223 



Table 37. Retrieved harvests and estimated total kills of Pacific walruses, 



1958-77.^ 



Retrieved harvests 



Calendar 



Soviet Union 





United States 





Estimated 











total 















year 



Total 



Malesb 



Horn o 1 £ic b 



n 1 

 v-ialves 



Total 



killc 



1958 



4,038 



— 



- 



- 



1,500 



9,230 



1959 



3,183 



— 



- 



- 



1,400 



7,638 



1960 



2,866 



— 



- 



— 



2,300 



8,610 



1961 



2,573 



— 



- 



- 



1,860 



7,388 



1962 



1,818 



— 



- 



— 



1,690 



5,847 



1963 



1,249 



— 



- 



— 



1,725 



4.957 



1964 



1,500 



649 



255 



71 



975 



4,125 



1965 



891 



1,010 



503 



254 



1,767 



4,430 



1966 



909 



1,741 



789 



278 



2,808 



6,195 



1967 



940 



1,192 



132 



23 



1,347 



3,812 



1968 



939 



933 



330 



174 



1,437 



3,960 



1969 



965 



620 



186 



76 



882 



3,078 



1970 



988 



881 



427 



114 



1,422 



4,017 



1971 



897 



1,592 



254 



69 



1,915 



4,687 



1972 



1,518 



847 



344 



134 



1,325 



4,738 



1973 



1,291 



1,240 



231 



110 



1,581 



4,787 



1974 



1,205 



1,097 



263 



50 



1,410 



4,358 



1975 



1,265 



1,488 



650 



240 



2,378 



6,072 



1976 



1,271 



1,820 



867 



302 



2,989 



7,100 



1977 



1,461 



1,338 



650 



325 



2,450d 



6,518 



^Soviet data 1958-64 from Krylcv (1968), 1965-77 from unpublished records. Ministry of 

 Fisheries; U.S. data all years from unpublished records, Alaska Department of Fish and 

 Game. 



b Animals 1 year old and older. 



^Assuming sum of retrieved harvests = 60% of kill. 



'^Includes 137 adults for which sex was not determined. 



walruses in the Bering-Chukchi region has varied between 3,000 and 7,000 

 animals per year, being lowest in the late 1960's and highest in the mid- to late 

 1970's (Table 37). The sex ratio in the harvest has continued to be about 1 

 female:3 males, and the rate of loss of dead and wounded animals apparently has 

 remained stable at about 40% of the overall kill. Both the Alaskan and Soviet 

 harvests have been mainly of adults, principally of the prime, most productive 

 age classes (males 10 to 20 years old; females 8 to 15 years old). However, the 

 continued favoring of females by disproportionate killing of males apparently 

 has tended to offset this removal, for both Soviet and American estimates of the 

 population indicate that it has increased markedly (Kenyon 1972; Gol'tsev 1972; 

 J. A. Estes and V. N. Gol'tsev, unpublished data). 



Intraspecific Traumatization 



Walruses are very large, powerful animals which frequently engage in agonis- 

 tic encounters with each other, using their tusks as weapons (Miller 1975a). 



