Adult walrus typically eat about 5% of their total body weight per day. That means a 2,000-pound walrus eats an average of 100 pounds of food every day! Their diet consists mostly of clams, marine worms, and fish. In fact, adult walrus can eat as many as 6,000 clams in one feeding! They can dive to depths of 200 feet in search of food. Walrus have lots of whiskers called vibrissae. They use these vibrissae to feel for clams and other food on the ocean floor. Sometimes they try to uncover clams by filling their mouths with water and squirting it out like a powerful fire-hose at the sea floor.
Walruses are easily distinguished by their long, white tusks, cinnamon-brown skin, grizzled whiskers, and bodies full of blubber. Growing up to 3,750 pounds, male Pacific walruses are larger than females and measure approximately 10 feet long. After a sustained period in very cold water, the tiny blood vessels in their skin constrict, and walruses appear almost white. Walruses turn pink when their circulation increases to diffuse excess body heat.
Walruses eat clams, crabs, shrimp, soft corals, sea cucumbers, and various other mollusks. They use their extremely sensitive “whiskers” to identify food. Walruses seize their prey between their lips and suck mollusks out of their shells with a quick piston-like flick of the tongue. Walruses face severe threats from global warming and the associated recession of arctic sea ice. The disappearance of sea ice is forcing walruses to haul out on land during the summer, which limits access to feeding areas at sea and makes them vulnerable to trampling, predation, and human disturbances. A major threat to the Pacific walrus is oil and gas exploration and drilling in the Chukchi and Bering seas. Other dangers include habitat disturbances, ocean acidification, and toxic pollution.
Credit : Center for Biological Diversity
Picture Credit : Google
