<h2 id="c24">THE WALRUS. <br/><span class="small">(<i>Trichechus rosmarus.</i>)</span></h2>
<p>The Walrus (<i>Trichechus rosmarus</i>)
is a very fat, clumsy brute, much uglier
than his picture, with a coarse, oily skin
all wrinkled and scarred; long, protruding
tusks; bristly whiskers and scuffling
flippers that barely serve to move his
bulky body over the land. In the water
he is more at home, and though it does
not require a high degree of strength
and skill to dig clams, that being his
daily occupation, yet he is able to keep
very fat on the fruits of his industry and
has much leisure to swim about or doze
on ice floes and sea beaches.</p>
<p>It is only in the arctic regions that
Walrus are found. Before the attacks of
whalers and ivory hunters they were
found as far south as Nova Scotia and
the Gulf of St. Lawrence, but now they
have retreated as far as possible into the
frozen north, living in limited numbers
about Hudson’s Bay, Davis Straits and
Greenland and in Spitzbergen and Northern
Europe. In the northern Pacific before
the slaughter began the Walrus
swarmed by thousands in the broad, shallow
bays from the Alaskan Peninsula to
Point Barrow, where the ice never melts.</p>
<p>The food of the Walrus consists of
mollusks and crustaceans, which he digs
from the muddy bottom with his long
tusks, and the roots and stalks of sea-weed.
He crushes the clams, shells and
all, and swallows the mass, leaving digestion
to proceed as it may. The stomach
of a Walrus killed in Bering Sea by Mr.
Henry W. Elliott contained more than
a bushel of crushed clams in their shells,
with enough other food to make half a
barrel.</p>
<p>It is principally for its ivory tusks and
the accumulated fat which comes from
heavy eating that the Walrus is now
being exterminated by whalers and hunters.
To the Eskimo the Walrus means
life itself. He eats the flesh, burns the
fat for fuel and light, makes his boats,
houses, harness and harpoon lines from
the hide and trades what ivory he has
not made into implements for the guns
and whisky so acceptable to primitive
man. The extermination of the Walrus
will probably mean the extermination of
the Eskimos, or at least an entire change
in their habits of life.</p>
<p>Although a very fierce looking animal,
the Walrus is reputed to be peaceful and
inoffensive except when attacked in the
water. At such times he has been known
to hook his tusks over the edge of the
boat and swamp it or even to call in his
friends by bull-like roars and smash the
boat to pieces. Besides man, his one
enemy is the polar bear, which creeps
upon him as he sleeps and worries him to
death. As the Walrus’ skin is anywhere
from half an inch to two inches thick and
padded out by an average of six inches
of fat, it is almost impossible to reach a
vital place even with long teeth and bear
claws, and the Walrus is often able to
flounder into the deep water and escape
by remaining under water until the bear
has to come up for breath.</p>
<p>One of the favorite amusements of the
Walrus is to float in the water with his
hind flippers hung down and his nose
comfortably above the wash and either
fall asleep or indulge in deep roarings
which are said to sound like something
between the mooing of a cow and the
baying of a mastiff and which often
serve, like whistling buoys, to warn sailors
from rocks and shoals.</p>
<p>The young are born in the spring, and
generally on the ice floes, but being born
fat the ice floes are probably as warm to
them as is a nest to a little mouse. The
mothers show great affection for their
young, and will not abandon them in
danger, even allowing themselves to be
speared while protecting their offspring.
As the Walrus are social by nature, wandering
about in great herds, and as they
also show a marked sympathy for each
other’s misfortunes, it is very dangerous
to wound one in the water lest the whole
herd join in a common defense.</p>
<div class="fig"> <ANTIMG src="images/img1037.jpg" alt="" width-obs="500" height-obs="660" /> <p class="caption">WALRUS. <br/>(Trichechus rosmarus.)</p> </div>
<div class="pagenum" id="Page_89">89</div>
<p>An adult male Walrus measures about
twelve feet from the end of his nose to
that of his very short tail, or fourteen feet
to the end of his hind flippers, and
weighs something over a ton. His girth is
as great as his length, in fact, it has been
often observed that his great circumference
and too-loose skin seem rather a
source of annoyance than otherwise to
him, especially when he tries to land on
a sandy beach. Even with the wash of
the breakers he is rarely able to get beyond
the water line, except as the tide
goes down and leaves him, dry perhaps,
but yet at the mercy of men and polar
bears.</p>
<p><span class="lr"><span class="sc">Dane Coolidge.</span></span></p>
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