AD 2018 Q1

LIFE
AQUATIC
WALRUSES
LIFE AT THE TOP OF THE WORLD
Text by Sabrina Belloni; photos by Franco Banfi
Walrus haul-outs, such as this one in
Svalbard, are quiet and calm until one
or more animals is disturbed, and chaos
breaks out. Weighing up to 3,000 pounds,
walruses are among the largest pinnipeds.
Almost all walruses live within or near the
Arctic Circle. The lands, seas and ice on
which they dwell are unique, important
and characterized by contrasts.
Among the places these animals
are found is the Svalbard archipelago,
Norwegian islands in the Arctic Ocean. Svalbard, which
lies between 74 degrees and 81 degrees north latitude,
is the second northernmost inhabited land in the world
(after the Canadian island of Ellesmere). More than 800
miles north of the Arctic Circle and not far from the
North Pole, Svalbard is home to spectacular wilderness
and wildlife, both topside and underwater.
Nature determines everything in the North, and
walruses are well suited to their ecological niche. One of
the largest pinnipeds, walruses can weigh more than 3,000
pounds. But their tusks, blubber and muscle may not be
enough to see them through the human-caused changes
to their environment. Climate warming means much less
Arctic ice now and absent ice packs during more of the
year than before. Walruses and other Arctic mammals in
general are highly vulnerable to these effects of climate
warming due to their total connectedness with sea ice
for all essential aspects of their lives: traveling, hunting,
feeding and, most important of all, breeding.
When sea ice disappears, these whiskered, bellowing
mammals spend more time on land and forage closer
to shore instead of in their rich feeding grounds at
sea. Females also give birth on land, which puts babies
at risk of trampling by adults. Finally, walruses spend
more time traveling at sea, which puts them at risk of
encountering other human activities.
The three subspecies of walrus are the Atlantic
walrus, the Pacific walrus and the Laptev walrus.
Humans have exploited walruses, like many other
species, for centuries. Hunters devastated the Atlantic
subspecies between 1750 and 1950, when walrus
blubber was precious for use as lubricating oil, their
40 | WINTER 2018