Walruses are endemic to the Arctic regions of the earth. They are distributed in the northernmost waters centered on the Arctic Ocean, including the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Therefore, some people affectionately call it the "indigenous" inhabitants.
The walrus, also known as the seahorse, is the largest mammal in the ocean besides cetaceans. The head is flat, the mouth is short and wide, the nose is thick, and the upper canine teeth form tusks that are 40 cm to 90 cm long. Both males and females are very large, each weighing more than 4 kg. This pair of tusks is an indispensable tool or weapon when digging for food, climbing rocks, or attacking enemies. Male walruses can reach 5 meters in length and weigh 4 tons. The walrus's hind limbs can bend forward and stick to the abdomen, allowing it to move forward flexibly on land. Walruses are also animals that like to live in groups, and each group can range from dozens, hundreds to thousands. As soon as the hot summer comes, they swim in groups to the shores of the mainland and islands, or simply climb onto large icebergs to bask in the sun. Walruses feed on small fish and squid and do not eat any food on land, losing 8 kilograms of weight every day.
The Walrus family contains only one species of walrus, which lives in the Arctic sea. The most eye-catching thing about the walrus is the pair of huge tusks, both male and female are very large. This is what makes it different from other pinnipeds. These tusks are actually canine teeth that grow from the upper jaw, like ivory , growing continuously throughout life. This tooth is an indispensable tool or weapon when digging for food, climbing rocks, or attacking enemies. The front legs of the walrus are very long, accounting for about a quarter of the body length. The hind legs can be bent forward, so they can walk on land. The ears are just slightly thicker skin with no cartilage support (similar to seals). With a huge body (second only to the elephant seal), it sleeps on the ice or on the coast all day long. It seems very bulky, but it can move quickly in the water. Its birth takes place in the sea. In order to obtain their tusks, oil and meat, humans have hunted them in large numbers, and their existing numbers have become very small.
The walrus is a rare animal and an economic sea beast. Due to competitive hunting by many countries, the number of walruses has plummeted from millions two or three centuries ago to less than about 70,000 today. Walruses are somewhat similar in appearance to land elephants. The body of the walrus is huge and ugly, with rough and wrinkled skin, narrow eyes, and canine teeth protruding from the mouth. Walruses are strong swimmers and are much more agile in the water than on land. In order to adapt to life in the ocean, walruses can also change their body color. Because walruses have strong gregarious habits, if any of their own kind is injured, they will definitely go to help and will never abandon them for their own safety, which makes them easy to capture by humans; the International Marine Mammal Protection Regulations formulated in 1972 have already included Walruses are listed as protected objects and arbitrary hunting is prohibited.
Among many marine animals, walruses are the most outstanding divers. Walruses can generally swim in the water for 20 minutes and dive to a depth of 500 meters. Individual walruses can dive into a record-breaking depth of 1,500 meters, which is much higher than ordinary military submarines, which can dive up to 300 meters. After diving to the bottom of the sea, walruses can stay underwater for 2 hours. Once they need fresh air, they can surface in just 3 minutes without decompression.
The reason why walruses have such amazing diving abilities is mainly due to the extremely rich blood in their bodies. A walrus weighing 2-4 tons has blood accounting for 20% of its total body weight. Human blood only accounts for 7% of body weight, which is nearly 2/3 less than that of walruses. Since walruses have a lot of blood and oxygen in their bodies, it is not surprising that they can dive to great depths and for long periods of time in the ocean.
Walruses are accustomed to living in deep water areas of the ocean, where sunlight cannot reach. Like bats and dolphins, walruses do not have special visual functions and rely on sound positioning to hunt. Walruses like to live in groups and have a lazy temperament. They spend most of their limited life (according to records, the lifespan of a walrus is 45 years) sleeping in. Therefore, you can often see hundreds of walruses sleeping leisurely on the ice or on the coast. The experience of long-term survival struggle makes the walrus never relax its vigilance. At this time, a walrus took on the role of guard. Once the enemy is discovered, the guards will wake up their sleeping companions loudly; or they will wake up the compatriots around them with their long teeth, and pass them on in turn. Sometimes in order to make the defense more thoughtful and meticulous, they will secretly arrange a second guard in the water.
Walruses may look bulky, but they are very dexterous.
When it dives into the seabed to look for food, its huge teeth are used with ease, constantly digging up the sand. At the same time, its sensitive lips and tentacles also detect and identify food. When it encounters food, it uses its teeth to remove the crows it likes to eat. Bite the shells of clams, snails, etc., and then eat their flesh.
Northern walruses mainly live on the western coast of the United States. It appears sometimes along the coast of the mainland and sometimes in the Hawaiian Islands. It turns out that they are roaming back and forth, and their roaming itineraries differ between males and females: male walruses roam about 21,000 kilometers, and female walruses roam about 19,000 kilometers. The southern walrus herd's roaming route is between South America and Antarctica.
Although the walrus is a giant, it is intimidating to Arctic whales and polar bears. A polar bear can crush its skull with its powerful paws and then eat a delicious meal. When a walrus encounters a killer whale in the water, the two sides start a life-and-death battle. At this time, the walrus adopts a collective defense strategy and rises up to defend itself. The Dao is one high, the devil is ten feet high, and the cunning killer whale adopts the policy of dividing and annihilating them.
In the high-latitude oceans, apart from whales, walruses are the largest mammals. Some people call them the "indigenous" inhabitants of the northern hemisphere. In the 19th century, due to the wanton hunting of walruses, it was completely destroyed. The zoological community once solemnly announced that walruses have become extinct on the earth. Perhaps because the survivors who have escaped the massacre have a reproductive capacity that doubles in five years, walruses have flourished again in the past century. For example, there is a small island of only 3 square kilometers 100 kilometers away from San Francisco, where 130,000 walruses live.
The huge body, weird appearance and strange living habits of the walrus not only surprise people, but also puzzle scientists. It has a round head, a short and wide mouth, a thick nose, and the upper canine teeth form tusks that are 40cm-90cm long, each weighing more than 4kg. Male walruses can reach 5 meters in length and weigh 4 tons. The walrus's hind limbs can bend forward and stick to its abdomen, allowing it to move forward on land. Walruses like to live in groups, with thousands of them clustered together. When summer comes, they swim in groups to the shores of the mainland and islands, or climb onto large icebergs to bask in the sun.
The walrus has poor vision, and his eyes are squinted like an old man lacking vitality. They love to sleep in and spend most of their lives lying on the ice. They can also sleep in the water. When sleeping, half of the back is exposed out of the water like a floating hill, rising and falling with the waves. When sleeping upright, the head and shoulders are exposed, making it easier to breathe. Why can walruses sleep straight? It turns out that there is an air sac in its pharynx. When it is filled with air, it floats in the water like a balloon. Walruses have very sensitive senses of smell and hearing. When they are sleeping, there is a walrus patrolling around. When something happens, it will make a bull-like cry, wake up the sleeping walrus, and run away quickly. The walrus has a heavy body, but it moves very quickly. It can swim between rough rocks and cross straits of hundreds of kilometers!
The walrus has about three inches of fat layer under its skin, which can withstand cold and keep warm. The skin color of walruses on land is different from that in sea water, because the blood vessels on land expand due to heat and become brownish-red. In water, blood vessels shrink, squeezing blood out of the subcutaneous fat layer to enhance the ability to insulate seawater, so they appear white.
For a long time, people have known very little about the habits of walruses, especially the role of the large tusks, which has puzzled scientists: If it is a self-defense weapon, but in high latitudes , the walrus has no strong rival, and the white bear keeps it at a distance. The ferocious killer whale may chase it, but the walrus always "takes the best option" and will never compete with the killer whale with its tusks. So are the tusks meant to increase the load on the walrus’ head, making it easier to dive into deep water? If so, wouldn't this assumption increase the difficulty of floating walruses? Walruses sometimes use their tusks to climb icebergs or use them to duel with love rivals, but this does not explain the main purpose of their tusks. In order to clarify each of these mysteries, foreign scientists went to the hometown of walrus-Hudson Bay for investigation.
It turned out that the tusks were plowing hard on the seabed like a plow, and two furrows about 50 centimeters deep appeared where they plowed. When the plow passes 2 to 3 meters, the walrus stretches its forelimbs and swims upward. Its two front flippers close together tightly, holding the harvest while swimming and rubbing it, dragging a black "smoke" behind it. When it almost reaches the surface of the water, it scatters its prey, then turns back to catch meat such as conch and shell molluscs according to different sinking speeds.
How clever this is! And the walrus's dense and tough beard also helps it accurately catch food in poor light conditions (such as the "polar night" season). Of course, not all walruses survive by eating molluscs, crustaceans, or other animals. One type of walrus has a particularly ferocious temperament. It specializes in eating the carcasses of seals and sea hares, and even chases boats and injures people. This kind of walrus has yellow tusks (usually white). Eskimos are most afraid of it crashing into the ship and causing disaster.
Every spring, walruses begin their great migration. Female walruses give birth and then enter the mating season. A newborn walrus calf can weigh up to 40 kilograms, and after a month of lactation, its weight can soar to nearly 100 kilograms. By the age of two, its length can reach 2.5 meters and its weight reaches 500 kilograms. From then on, it begins to live independently. Male walruses are indifferent to calves. During the mating season, they are just jealous and kill each other for their lovers. Some lose their lives and most of them are left with scars. However, what is commendable is that once separated from the female walrus, the hatred of the former love rivals was completely forgotten, and they quickly formed a separate, friendly group of males. Although the female walrus does not take her children as seriously as her own, she is still a competent "mother". Mother and son depend on each other and play with each other. The "mother" holds the "child" with her front flippers, and sometimes the cub rides on her back, cuddles around her neck or sleeps on the "mother". If the baby walrus is injured and dies, the "mother" will do everything possible to get it into the water and bury it. Once, an Eskimo killed a baby walrus on the edge of the ice. When he was about to leave with his catch, he was unexpectedly attacked by a female walrus that jumped out from behind. When he turned around to find out what was going on, The mother walrus has dived into the water with the carcass of her calf. If a mother walrus is captured, the baby walrus will cry out for her mother and follow the hunting boat unable to bear to leave.
The walrus also has other habits. For example, on land, it practices "fasting" and does not eat anything, showing its unique metabolism. There is also a huge difference in weight between male and female walruses. A 2.5-meter-long female walrus weighs about 700 kilograms, which is half the weight of the same male walrus. This is something that other animals do not have. Walruses are accustomed to returning to their "home" to breed, giving birth to one calf per litter. They do this every year and never get lost.