What is a walrus?
A: The walrus is a large flippered marine mammal.
The walrus is the only living species in what family?
A: The family Odobenidae and genus Odobenus.
This species is subdivided into what two subspecies?
A: The Atlantic walrus which lives in the Atlantic Ocean, and the Pacific
walrus, which lives in the Pacific Ocean.
Adult walruses are characterized by prominent tusks and
whiskers, and their what?
A: How much can adult males in the Pacific weigh?
A: More than 2,000 kilograms (4,400 pounds).
Among pinnipeds, they are exceeded in size only by the
two species of what?
A: Elephant seals.
Walruses live mostly in what?
A: Shallow waters above the continental shelves.
They spend significant amounts of their lives on what?
A: The sea ice looking for benthic bivalve mollusks to eat.
Walruses are relatively long-lived, social
animals, and
they are a what?
A: A "keystone species" in the Arctic marine regions.
The walrus has played a prominent role in the cultures
of many indigenous Arctic peoples, who have
hunted the walrus for its what?
A: Meat, fat, skin, tusks, and
bone.
The walrus is a mammal in the order of what?
A: Carnivora.
While some outsized Pacific males can weigh as much as
2,000 kg (4,400 lb.), most weigh how much?
A: Between 800 and 1,700 kg (1,800 and 3,700 lb.).
A walrus's hide usually accounts for about how much of
its body weight?
A: 20%.
How much do male Atlantic walrus’s weigh?
A: An average of 900 kg (2,000 lb.).[3]
The Atlantic walrus also tends to have relatively
shorter what?
A: Tusks and somewhat more flattened snout.
Newborn walruses are already quite large, averaging 33
to 85 kg (73 to 187 lb) in weight and how long?
A: 1 to 1.4 m (3 ft 3 in to 4 ft 7 in) in length across both sexes and
subspecies.
Walruses maintain such a high body weight because of
what?
A: The blubber stored underneath their skin.
What is the blubber for?
A: It keeps them warm, and the fat provides energy.
The walrus's body shape shares features with what?
A: Both sea lions (eared seals: Otariidae) and seals (true seals: Phocidae).
Tusks are slightly longer and thicker among males,
which use them for what?
A: Fighting, dominance, and display; the strongest males with the largest
tusks typically dominate social groups.
Tusks are also used to form and maintain what?
A: Holes in the ice.
Surrounding the tusks is a broad mat of what?
A: Stiff bristles giving the walrus a characteristic whiskered appearance.
The walrus is sparsely covered with what?
A: Fur.
Its skin is highly wrinkled and how thick?
A: Up to 10 cm (4 in) around the neck and shoulders of males.
How thick is the blubber layer?
A: up to 15 cm (6 in) thick.
Young walruses are what
color?
A: Deep brown and grow paler and more cinnamon-colored as they age.
Old males become nearly what color?
A: Pink.
The walrus has an air sac under its throat which acts
like a flotation bubble and allows it to do what?
A: To bob vertically in the water and sleep.
The males possess a large baculum (penis bone), up to
how long?
A: 63 cm (25 in) in length, the largest of any land mammal, both in
absolute size and relative to body size.
How long do Walruses live?
A: To about 20–30 years old in the wild.
The males reach sexual maturity as early as seven
years, but do not typically mate until fully developed at around what age?
A: 15 years of age.