. Animal Life and the World of Nature; A magazine of Natural History. Photograph oy E. J. Bed-. KEINDEEB. Proximity to land and in shallow water is the spot chosen by the walrus as its habitat. Here it brings forth its young, usually one at a birth, and is able to dredge on the bottom of the sea for its food, which consists largely of shell-fish. The chief uses of the formidable tusks are four: In the first place to scrape up the bottom to obtain food; secondly, when lying on its back in the water, by their aid the animal is able to knock holes through thin ice, and so clamber out; thirdly, as
. Animal Life and the World of Nature; A magazine of Natural History. Photograph oy E. J. Bed-. KEINDEEB. Proximity to land and in shallow water is the spot chosen by the walrus as its habitat. Here it brings forth its young, usually one at a birth, and is able to dredge on the bottom of the sea for its food, which consists largely of shell-fish. The chief uses of the formidable tusks are four: In the first place to scrape up the bottom to obtain food; secondly, when lying on its back in the water, by their aid the animal is able to knock holes through thin ice, and so clamber out; thirdly, as very formidable weapons of offence in fighting ; and last of all, to enable the walrus to scramble out of the water upon ice or land, and as propelling agents in walking. The walrus is an animal of considerable amount of intelligence—far more so than the polar bear. He has a well-shaped head and a large brain-cavity. At our hut on Cape Flora, Franz Josef Land, we had two juvenile walruses, whose weight, although only a few weeks old, was nearly thirteen and a-half stones each. These two little animals soon got to know us, and one of them, although a bad walker, even tried to follow me about the plateau near the hut. We fed them on condensed milk, and for some time they did well, but eventually died on their way home to the Zoo. Walruses, bulls especially, are animals that love a fight and will go a long way out of their course to have one. In the water they are most dangerous antagonists, and with their powerful tusks, enormous weight and great strength, will quickly reduce a boat to matchwood. On ice or land, owing to their want of mobility, they are harmless in dealing with an ordinarily active man with space to move about. It is a common sight to see eight or ten walruses lying asleep on small detached pieces of floating ice, idly drifting with the tide. They then look much like large leeches, and the photograph on page 159 gives a good idea of their appearance. They are,
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookpublisherlondo, bookyear1902
