Both male and female walruses have tusks and have been observed using these overgrown teeth to help pull themselves out of the water.
The mustached and long-tusked walrus is most often found near the Arctic Circle, lying on the ice with hundreds of companions. These marine mammals are extremely sociable, prone to loudly bellowing and snorting at one another, but are aggressive during mating season. With wrinkled brown and pink hides, walruses are distinguished by their long white tusks, grizzly whiskers, flat flipper, and bodies full of blubber.
Walruses use their iconic long tusks for a variety of reasons, each of which makes their lives in the Arctic a bit easier. They use them to haul their enormous bodies out of frigid waters, thus their "tooth-walking" label, and to break breathing holes into ice from below. Their tusks, which are found on both males and females, can extend to about three feet (one meter), and are, in fact, large canine teeth, which grow throughout their lives. Male walruses, or bulls, also employ their tusks aggressively to maintain territory and, during mating season, to protect their harems of females, or cows.
The walrus' other characteristic features are equally useful. As their favorite meals, particularly shellfish, are found near the dark ocean floor, walruses use their extremely sensitive whiskers, called mustacial vibrissae, as detection devices. Their blubbery bodies allow them to live comfortably in the Arctic regionwalruses are capable of slowing their heartbeats in order to withstand the polar temperatures of the surrounding waters.
The two subspecies of walrus are divided geographically. Atlantic walruses inhabit coastal areas from northeastern Canada to Greenland, while Pacific walruses inhabit the northern seas off Russia and Alaska, migrating seasonally from their southern range in the Bering Seawhere they are found on the pack ice in winterto the Chukchi Sea. Female Pacific walruses give birth to calves during the spring migration north.
Only Native Americans are currently allowed to hunt walruses, as the species' survival was threatened by past overhunting. Their tusks, oil, skin, and meat were so sought after in the 18th and 19th centuries that the walrus was hunted to extinction in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and around Sable Island, off the coast of Nova Scotia.
|
Where do you want to go?
. I just don't know where in USA to go for this purpose.
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by Salem1
. I can also be of help for you so drop me a note if you ever take the chance to go there (a weekend in Danzig/Warszaw/Krakow can also be incredibly cheap if you go by Wizz Air, it's like Ryanair but pink). Polish driving is somewhat "optimistic" but I can really recommend that you try to get out on the country side, there are many fascinating villages in Poland.
. If you go to Gdansk you have the opportunity to buy Castellan which is quite good but hard to find outside northern Poland.
