Truemors
Walruses: under threat from climate change
Walruses are in danger of being wiped out by climate change due to where they live.
The populations are spread out between the Pacific walrus and the smaller Atlantic walrus and they can be found in Arctic waters across Alaska, Canada, Greenland and western Russia.
But as sea tempratures rise, the ice where they live is getting thinner and the walruses cannot reach their food.
It seems that anyone who works with walruses soon falls under their spell. Dr Ronald J. Schusterman of the University of California, who has studied them for many years, says that they are all too easy to fall in love with. "The first time I encountered one, I said to myself, 'Wow, these animals are really something else.'" Dr Colleen Reichmuth of the Long Marine Laboratory agrees. "As soon as I started working with walruses, I was really struck by how intriguing they are. They are such social and communicative animals."
Walruses spend about one-third of their time on ice or land, before heading out to sea in search of food. Out of water, they are nearly always found in groups or herds which can reach up to 2,000 in number. They use their tusks, which can grow to 80cm in length, to heave themselves out of the water on to the slippery ice – hence the family name, odobenidae, which in Latin means "those who walk with teeth". "They are very gregarious and social animals who like to hang out together and flop on one another," Dr Schusterman says. "They are very tactile and really like to touch just about anything. When we work with them in captivity, that can be a little intimidating at first, but they really are pussycats."
The bonds between herd members are very strong, and there is anecdotal evidence from Inuits that walruses are extremely nurturing creatures. Older animals have been known to try to protect wounded group members from hunters. "This is really unusual among species with a lower degree of social development. We might expect to see that sort of behaviour in elephants, killer whales or lions, but we don't understand yet why that sort of behaviour might be apparent in walruses," explains Dr Reichmuth.
The lack of ice is causing walruses to have to go further to find food, and this means more crowding and more competition and more inteference from humans, which means more deaths.
Professor Georgina Mace, the director of the Centre for Population Biology at Imperial College London and an expert in extinction risk assessment, says that "climate change is causing substantial environmental change for the walrus because of the melting of the sea ice. This is occurring very rapidly and there is concern for all species, including the walrus, that are dependent on the special environments the ice floes form annually."
Other arctic animals endangered by climate change include the Beluga Whale, the Polar Bear, the Wolverine, the Arctic Fox and the Narwhal Whale.
September 12, 2008 at 02:47 pm by amyjudd, 1038 views, 21 comments
Digg
del.icio.us
AddToAny
Crowd Power
Aieman
Kenyacyw88
New York, New York, United Statesaresauburn
Auburn, California, United StatesJolanda.van.Tuijl
Gorinchem, d-Holland, Netherlands
amyjudd
Vancouver, Canada
nathan_copeland
Redmond, Washington, United StatesLogansProudDaddy
Vicksburg, Michigan, United Statespiratetuba
Van Buren, Arkansas, United StatesLoudmouth42069
Indianapolis, Indiana, United Statesdande
New Haven, Connecticut, United Statesinferi
Huntington Beach, California, United StatesChimerico
Indianapolis, Indiana, United Statesartbrom
Kirkland, Washington, United StatesGeese~Unite
Camas, Washington, United StatesIslesPunkFan
Valley Stream, New York, United States
Arctic Dancer
Big Stone Gap, Virginia, United Statesmommypants
United StatesJim Kershner
Lebanon, Indiana, United Statesclaumoho
Los Angeles, California, United Statestrademybike
Bothell, Washington, United Statesajw_93
Alexandria, Virginia, United StatesAllie_Caulfield
Germany (Deutschland)mtpeke
Weaverville, North Carolina, United States
Nigel Bewley
London, United Kingdomnberger
ChinaFollidus
Windsor Mill, Maryland, United Statesillustratedlibrarian
Palm Springs, California, United States
dhgatsby
Denver, Colorado, United StatesMindsEye
Netherlandsjet7_girl
Canadaavary5
Puyallup, Washington, United Statesdominguez_stan
Montebello, California, United Statescinda marie
Mesa, Arizona, United Stateszub4ik
Russia3ricphoto
BelgiumDistraction Limited
Tucson, Arizona, United Statesprovideofx
Staten Island, New York, United StatesRHComics
Brooklyn, New York, United Statestoumbido
Australiagorefiendus
Lancaster, California, United Statesanetjoha
Cincinnati, Ohio, United Statesbassking
Canadafuzzybaby29
Orleans, Indiana, United Statesdianadhevi
Puerto Ricoroxynette
CanadaSandra.77
Canadamocha3bears
Olympia, Washington, United StatesMega-saurus
Seattle, Washington, United Statesjennaryan13
Indianapolis, Indiana, United StatesSteve-23
CanadaAnande
Eatonville, Washington, United StatesJosh Flowers
Ft Mitchell, Kentucky, United Statesjgunn9991
Pooler, Georgia, United Statestink.
Philippinesjoshmas99
Wimberley, Texas, United Statesaknollhuff
Litchfield Park, Arizona, United StatesMousling1
Indianapolis, Indiana, United StatesGuineh
Plano, Texas, United StatesBiologisvensk
Las Vegas, Nevada, United StatesTheOffWhite
Nanuet, New York, United Stateswolfen_dancer
San Jose, California, United StatesMowah1
Lanexa, Virginia, United States
r-shaun
New York, New York, United Statesedat87bartonstreet
Torrington, Connecticut, United Statesrmansoorian
Houston, Texas, United StatesDutch-Dolphin
United Stateskristen_stocks
Brooklyn, New York, United Statesabilos
Elk Grove Village, Illinois, United States
Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (21)
at 16:54 on September 12th, 2008
amyjudd, I like this story. It's good stuff.
- reply
provideofxat 18:20 on September 12th, 2008
There were roughly 200,000 Pacific Walruses according to the last census-based estimation in 1990. The majority of the Pacific Walrus population spends the summer north of the Bering Strait in the Chukchi Sea along the north shore of eastern Siberia, around Wrangel Island, in the Beaufort Sea along the north shore of Alaska, and in the waters between those locations. Smaller numbers of males summer in the Gulf of Anadyr on the south shore of the Chukchi Peninsula of Siberia and in Bristol Bay off the south shore of southern Alaska west of the Alaska Peninsula. In the spring and fall they congregate throughout the Bering Strait, reaching from the west shores of Alaska to the Gulf of Anadyr. They winter to the south in the Bering Sea along the eastern shore of Siberia south to the northern part of the Kamchatka Peninsula, and along the southern shore of Alaska.[4] A 28,000 year old fossil walrus specimen was dredged out of the San Francisco Bay, indicating that the Pacific Walrus ranged as far south as Northern California during the last ice age. The Atlantic Walrus, which was nearly eradicated by commercial harvest, has a much smaller population. Good estimates are difficult to obtain, but the total number is probably below 20,000. It ranges from the Canadian Arctic, Greenland, Svalbard and the western portion of the Russian Arctic. There are eight presumed sub-populations of the Atlantic Walrus based largely on geographical distribution and movement data, five to the west and three to the east of Greenland. The Atlantic Walrus once enjoyed a range that extended south to Cape Cod and occurred in large numbers in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. In April 2006, the Canadian Species at Risk Act listed the Northwest Atlantic Walrus population (Québec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador) as being extirpated in Canada. The isolated Laptev population is confined year-round to the central and western regions of the Laptev Sea, the easternmost regions of the Kara Sea, and the westernmost regions of the East Siberian Sea. Current populations are estimated to be between 5,000 and 10,000 individuals.
provideofx has contributed a photo to this story.
at 18:27 on September 12th, 2008
Poor walruses.
anetjoha has contributed a photo to this story.
at 19:36 on September 12th, 2008
amyjudd, I like this story. It's good stuff.
Every Mammal will soon be under major stress as well as all the crust-aces. Some insects may be the only thing able to handle the extremes of those changes yet to come.
- reply
roxynetteat 19:54 on September 12th, 2008
roxynette has contributed a photo to this story.
at 23:59 on September 12th, 2008
Download music MP3, buy mp3 music, legal MP3 downloads at
at 00:02 on September 13th, 2008
amyjudd, I like this story. It's good stuff.
Yep, global warming, climate change, but no real change in our behaviour. Save energy, save our climate, save animals.
See these tips: http://www.stichtingmilieunet.nl/energysavingtips.php
- reply
3ricphotoat 00:31 on September 13th, 2008
I took this picture in svalbard this summer. Not nowing they were in danger of being wiped out due to the climate change. This will in the end affect us all.
3ricphoto has contributed a photo to this story.
- reply
Mousling1at 05:52 on September 13th, 2008
I took my walrus picture at the Indianapolis Zoo. This particular walrus was playing tag with the kids, swimming back and forth, nosing their hands through the glass.
Mousling1 has contributed a photo to this story.
at 07:45 on September 13th, 2008
amyjudd, I like this story. It's good stuff. Poor animals.
at 00:42 on September 14th, 2008
This photo was taken at a place called the Dolfinarium when I was on holiday in the Netherlands. They are amazing animals, you don't appreciate how large they really are until you get to see them for real.
MarcsZoos has contributed a photo to this story.
at 11:58 on September 14th, 2008
amyjudd, I like this story. It's good stuff. great pictures too!
- reply
Mega-saurusat 12:51 on September 15th, 2008
An underwater shot I took of the largest Walrus at Tacoma's Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium.
Mega-saurus has contributed a photo to this story.
- reply
Mega-saurusat 12:53 on September 15th, 2008
Very interesting story and good to spread the word about their decline so we can start making better preparations for ways to sustain and help them reclaim their numbers.
- reply
rmansoorianat 17:32 on September 16th, 2008
This photo is from Sea World in Orlando. It was amazing to see how graceful they were underwater.
rmansoorian has contributed a photo to this story.
- reply
fuzzybaby29at 06:58 on September 21st, 2008
This picture was taken at the Indianapolis Zoo in Indianapolis, Indiana. This walrus absolutely LOVED my son. He completely ignored everyone else that was there to see him and followed my son back and forth. It was so sad when we left because the walrus went to the end of the row of windows and watched us walk away=(
fuzzybaby29 has contributed a photo to this story.
at 08:10 on September 21st, 2008
I love the sea. We should do everything we can to stop pollution. We can start by going after the worst polluters, like Russia and China. Russian nuclear subs are rotting away from the cold war and leaching nuclear waste into the sea, and the Chinese have no respect for the environment, yet leaders here in the U.S. don't want to offend the worst offenders!
at 09:13 on September 21st, 2008
amyjudd, I like this story. It's good stuff.
at 11:23 on September 27th, 2008
This is a walrus display (not real walruses) from the Natural History Museum in NYC. Of course, this sort of scene could very well become as non-current to us as the rest of the dinosaur displays in the same museum...
dianadhevi has contributed a photo to this story.
at 00:57 on October 2nd, 2008
amyjudd, I like this story. It's good stuff.
- reply
danwakemanat 13:57 on October 4th, 2008
Thanks for choosing my photo. This photo was taken at the New York Aquarium, this walrus had an eye infection and he was so calm and still as the keeper put drops in his eye. He waved us goodbye! Long live the Walrus!
danwakeman has contributed a photo to this story.