Walrus

The Walrus is a fascinating species that lives in the area around the north pole. This one was photographed in Holland. In a similar way, they are infrequent visitors to the UK. Having said this, they used to be resident in Scotland, with the last dominant male and his harem being killed in 1850. There are occasional talks about reintroducing them, and they would likely be the easiest member of carnivora to return to our crowded island.

There are 2 subspecies of the Walrus, the Atlantic walrus and the Pacific walrus. Currently, these animals number in total 250,000 but before exploitation there were thought to be a high of 200,000 Pacific Walrus and the Atlantic Walrus population merely estimated to be in the hundreds of thousands. While now having been subspecies for quite some time, the two are only thought to have diverged 500,000 to 750000 years ago.

While its current distribution is clearly very centred around the north pole, they roam widely. They used to be found in the UK until around 1850, and several have spent time around the UK in the last few years. The picture above is that of wally the Walrus resting in Cornwall. of course to see these animals in their element, it is worth going north.

Below is a video from planet earth, showing an exhausted polar bear, trying to predate walrus.  This move is a clear act of desperation, as while one on one, a polar bear might manage to take a large walrus, attacking a herd of walrus is a quite different matter. 

Below that is a list of articles which have been written on this species within this website. While currently, there are not many, we hope to add more in the future. If you study them or similar, do get in touch as we would love to feature articles from the field.

Below both of these, we aim to start adding places where you can see walrus in the wild.