Walruses: under threat from climate change

There were roughly 200,000 Pacific Walruses according to the last census-based estimation in 1990. The majority of the Pacific Walrus population spends the summer north of the Bering Strait in the Chukchi Sea along the north shore of eastern Siberia, around Wrangel Island, in the Beaufort Sea along the north shore of Alaska, and in the waters between those locations. Smaller numbers of males summer in the Gulf of Anadyr on the south shore of the Chukchi Peninsula of Siberia and in Bristol Bay off the south shore of southern Alaska west of the Alaska Peninsula. In the spring and fall they congregate throughout the Bering Strait, reaching from the west shores of Alaska to the Gulf of Anadyr. They winter to the south in the Bering Sea along the eastern shore of Siberia south to the northern part of the Kamchatka Peninsula, and along the southern shore of Alaska.[4] A 28,000 year old fossil walrus specimen was dredged out of the San Francisco Bay, indicating that the Pacific Walrus ranged as far south as Northern California during the last ice age. The Atlantic Walrus, which was nearly eradicated by commercial harvest, has a much smaller population. Good estimates are difficult to obtain, but the total number is probably below 20,000. It ranges from the Canadian Arctic, Greenland, Svalbard and the western portion of the Russian Arctic. There are eight presumed sub-populations of the Atlantic Walrus based largely on geographical distribution and movement data, five to the west and three to the east of Greenland. The Atlantic Walrus once enjoyed a range that extended south to Cape Cod and occurred in large numbers in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. In April 2006, the Canadian Species at Risk Act listed the Northwest Atlantic Walrus population (Québec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador) as being extirpated in Canada. The isolated Laptev population is confined year-round to the central and western regions of the Laptev Sea, the easternmost regions of the Kara Sea, and the westernmost regions of the East Siberian Sea. Current populations are estimated to be between 5,000 and 10,000 individuals.

provideofx has contributed a photo to this story.

Poor walruses.

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I took this picture in svalbard this summer. Not nowing they were in danger of being wiped out due to the climate change. This will in the end affect us all.

3ricphoto has contributed a photo to this story.

I took my walrus picture at the Indianapolis Zoo. This particular walrus was playing tag with the kids, swimming back and forth, nosing their hands through the glass.

Mousling1 has contributed a photo to this story.

This photo was taken at a place called the Dolfinarium when I was on holiday in the Netherlands. They are amazing animals, you don't appreciate how large they really are until you get to see them for real.

MarcsZoos has contributed a photo to this story.

An underwater shot I took of the largest Walrus at Tacoma's Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium.

Mega-saurus has contributed a photo to this story.

Very interesting story and good to spread the word about their decline so we can start making better preparations for ways to sustain and help them reclaim their numbers.

This photo is from Sea World in Orlando. It was amazing to see how graceful they were underwater.

rmansoorian has contributed a photo to this story.

This picture was taken at the Indianapolis Zoo in Indianapolis, Indiana. This walrus absolutely LOVED my son. He completely ignored everyone else that was there to see him and followed my son back and forth. It was so sad when we left because the walrus went to the end of the row of windows and watched us walk away=(

fuzzybaby29 has contributed a photo to this story.

I love the sea.  We should do everything we can to stop pollution.  We can start by going after the worst polluters, like Russia and China.  Russian nuclear subs are rotting away from the cold war and leaching nuclear waste into the sea, and the Chinese have no respect for the  environment, yet leaders here in the U.S. don't want to offend the worst offenders!

This is a walrus display (not real walruses) from the Natural History Museum in NYC. Of course, this sort of scene could very well become as non-current to us as the rest of the dinosaur displays in the same museum...

dianadhevi has contributed a photo to this story.