Odobenus rosmarus
Walruses are large (400 - 1700 kg) mammals that live in an area around the North Pole, in the Arctic Ocean. Both males and females have two long tusks that may reach a length of one meter (in bulls), protruding downwards from their jaws. The one in the picture (Indianapolis zoo, August 2000) has her tusks cut, because the zoo keepers wanted to avoid accidental injuries. When they dive into the water their skin takes a grayish color because there is restricted supply of blood; on the contrary, when they bask under the sun their skin takes a reddish hue, because of increased blood flow. Their favorite food is clams, which they retrieve from the sea bottom. They eat them not by breaking them but by sucking them and they can eat as many as 4,000 clams in one feeding.
Family Odobenidae
Superfamily Canoidea
Order Carnivora
Subclass Eutheria
Class Mammalia
Subphylum Vertebrata
Phylum Chordata
Kingdom Animalia
Life on Earth
Index