The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Walrus

WALRUS (from Swedish hvalross, whale-horse), an arctic marine pinniped mammal of the genus Odobœnus, of which two species are recognized – the Atlantic (O. rosmarus), and the Pacific (O. pacificus, or O. obesus). The walrus is allied to hair seals (see Seals and Sealing), from which it is distinguished by having the upper canine teeth largely developed, and growing from persistent pulps to form tusks. These may attain a length of 15 inches or more, and grow downwards, and slightly inwards. They serve the animal as weapons, as tools in digging up from the sand of the bottom of the sea the mollusks upon which it mainly subsists, and in climbing out upon ice-cakes or rocks of the shore. They are much larger in the males than in the females. The walrus is ordinarily 10 to 12 feet long, with a girth as great, but occasionally attains a length of 20 feet. The muaile is abruptly truncated, with long and remarkably strong bristly moustaches; small eyes; external ear wanting, though the orifice is distinctly visible; hind limbs short, connected by a membrane which covers the tail; fore limbs strong and stumpy, all with five digits. The fur is of a tawny brown color, and the hide is so thick that it has been likened to a tough, flexible coat of mail.

Walruses are gregarious and are fonnd on the seashore and on ice floes. They are said to be monogamuus, and the female brings forth at nine months one calf, usually on the ice floes. In disposition they are quiet and inoffensive anless attacked, or during the mating season, at when their young are in danger, when they become desperately aggressive and furiously attack the hunters on the ice or in boats. The walrus is now confined to the regions within the Arctic Circle, though its extinct ancestors had a much wider geographical range, occurring numerously in ancient tunes as far south as Denmark and Nova Scotia in the Atlantic and about the Aleutian Islands on the northwest coast. Owing to reckless slaughter by sealers and whalers, they are greatly decreased even in the Arctic seas, and the few remaining seek unfrequented spots in high latitudes. The tusks yield a valuable ivory, their blubber a fine oil, while the hide is most serviceable. Consult Allen, 'North American Pinnipeds' (Washington 1880) and standard authorities.