How do walrus use their tusks?

Both male and female walruses have large tusks They use these tusks to help them haul themselves out of the water and onto sea ice. Their tusks are also used for fighting with other walruses, and defence against predators.

How do walruses eat?

While walruses eat all sorts of small aquatic creatures, their food of choice is clam. To find clams, walruses dive to shallow sea floors and search with their sensitive vibrissae (whiskers). Once food is found, walruses seal their lips to the clam’s shell and quickly withdraw their tongues back into their mouths.

Do walruses use their tusks to dig up food?

Walruses use their long ivory tusks to haul their heavy bodies up onto the ice, to forage for food, and to defend against predators. The main role of the tusks, however, is a social one. Walruses use them in their herd for dominance and mating displays.

How do walruses catch their food?

Because visibility is poor in deep and murky waters, walruses rely on their vibrissae to locate food. A walrus moves its snout along the bottom, rooting through the sediment and using its vibrissae to help detect prey.

What do walruses use their whiskers for?

Arctic Adaptations As their favorite meals, particularly shellfish, are found near the dark ocean floor, walruses use their extremely sensitive whiskers, called mustacial vibrissae, as detection devices.

What are walrus tusks made of?

Walrus tusks are primarily composed of Dentin, a hard calcareous material composed of Calcium hydroxyapatite with small amounts of Calcium carbonate, Calcium fluoride, and Magnesium phosphate. They are solid, without any noticeable grain.

Do baby walrus have tusks?

Walrus tusks are found on both the male and the female where they grow continually throughout their life. The tusks are used as a symbol of age, sex, and social status. The babies have no tusks when they are born. The tusks of the males are much longer and wider in proportion to their body than those of the female.

Do walrus shed their tusks?

While there is constant growth in tusks, there is also loss due to abrasion from contact with the mud, sand, and gravel of the sea floor while the animals are feeding. Fractures also occur, especially in adult males who have curved high divergent tusks.

What is a walrus tusk worth?

Tusks also come in handy for scraping up food or helping to pull the animals up onto land or ice. True ivory walrus tusks can be hard to come by; and as of July 2011, those that are legally sold can be worth as little as $100 or in some forms as much as $50,000.

What are narwhal tusks made of?

Like elephant and walrus tusks, the narwhal tusk has an outer layer of cement covering a core of dentine and lacks a covering of enamel (except sometimes at its extreme tip).

Do all walrus have tusks?

Both males and females have tusks. The tusks of males tend to be longer, straighter, and stouter than those of females. Tusks erupt during a calf’s first summer or fall.

Is it illegal to own a walrus tusk?

Raw walrus ivory obtained after 12/21/72 is not legal to buy or sell unless both parties are Eskimo (it is legal to own). A $30 export permit is required to ship walrus ivory or oosik (legal as per above) out of the United States.