More to Explore: December 2009

Fun Facts: Walruses

• A full-grown walrus may eat more than 50 pounds of food a day.
• A walrus has as many as 700 whiskers. The whiskers may be up to 12 inches long. But they're usually worn down to stubs by rubbing against the sea floor.
• Some walruses migrate north in the summer and then south again in the winter. Each year they may travel up to 1,800 miles. Other walruses may stay in the same place year round.
• Once more than 20 different species of walrus existed. They evolved from otter-like animals long, long ago.
• These days there is only one species of walrus, but there are slight differences between walruses in Alaska and those in Canada, Greenland, and Russia.

How a walrus nabs a clam:

1. A walrus swims along the muddy sea floor. Its whiskers feel a clam's breathing tube poking up through the mud.
2. The walrus then sucks in a mouthful of water and squirts the water down at the clam, blasting the mud away.
3. An instant later, the walrus grabs the closed shell between its lips.
4. The walrus quickly pulls its tongue backward, creating powerful suction inside its mouth.
5. The suction causes the clam's shell to pop open. The insides then slide down the walrus's throat!