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Walrus Media/Contacts Active

By Alaska Science Center June 29, 2018

If you have questions about walrus research or media inquiries regarding the USGS Alaska Science Center please contact Yvette Gillies or Steven Sobieszczyk.

Return to Media/Outreach or Walrus Research

We appreciate all the interest in the USGS research on Walrus. You can find videos, news releases, USGS top stories and fact sheets on this page and under the news and publications tabs.

Walrus Video and Audio Clips

 

Audio

Below are other science projects associated with this project.

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Walruses resting on an ice floe

Walrus Research

The USGS Alaska Science Center conducts long-term research on the Pacific walrus to provide scientific information to Department of Interior management agencies and Alaska Native co-management partners. In addition, the USGS Pacific walrus research program collaborates with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the State of Alaska’s Department of Fish and Game and Alaska Native co...
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Land Management Research Program, Species Management Research Program, Alaska Science Center
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Walrus Research

The USGS Alaska Science Center conducts long-term research on the Pacific walrus to provide scientific information to Department of Interior management agencies and Alaska Native co-management partners. In addition, the USGS Pacific walrus research program collaborates with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the State of Alaska’s Department of Fish and Game and Alaska Native co...
Learn More
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USGS Alaska Science Center sign

Media/Outreach at the Alaska Science Center

If you have questions about upcoming events, research, or media inquiries regarding the USGS Alaska Science Center please contact Yvette Gillies.

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Media/Outreach at the Alaska Science Center

If you have questions about upcoming events, research, or media inquiries regarding the USGS Alaska Science Center please contact Yvette Gillies.

Learn More

Below are multimedia items associated with this project.

Filter Total Items: 38
Two panels showing two Capella Space Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite images of a walrus haulout in Russia.
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Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite images of a walrus haulout in Russia
Figure comparing four Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite images of Pacific walruses haulout near Point Lay, Alaska
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Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite images of Pacific walruses
Adult female walrus being measured by two marine mammal trainers at Indianapolis Zoo
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Marine mammal trainers measure a healthy female walrus
Walruses resting on an ice floe
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Walruses resting on an ice floe
Pacific walruses resting in the water, Chukchi Sea, Alaska
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Pacific walruses resting in the water, Chukchi Sea, Alaska
Pacific walruses jousting with their tusks, Alaska
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Close up of Pacific walruses jousting with their tusks, Chukchi Sea
Pacific walruses hauled out on beach, Alaska
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Pacific walruses hauled out on beach, Alaska
Group of Pacific walruses resting on beach, Alaska
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Group of Pacific walruses resting on beach, Chukchi Sea, Alaska
close up of Pacific walruses resting on the beach, Alaska
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Pacific walruses resting on beach, Chukchi Sea
Pacific walruses hauled out on beach, Alaska
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Pacific walruses hauled out on beach, Chukchi Sea, Alaska
Pacific walruses on beach and in water, Alaska
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Pacific walruses on beach and in water, Chukchi Sea, Alaska
USGS wildlife biologist, piloting an unmanned aerial system (UAS)
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USGS wildlife biologist piloting an UAS for use in walrus survey
A young male Pacific walrus resting along shoreline of the Chukchi Sea
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Young male Pacific walrus resting on beach, Chukchi Sea, Alaska
adult female Pacific walrus resting on the beach, Chukchi Sea, Alaska
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Adult female Pacific walrus resting on beach, Chukchi Sea, Alaska
Young male Pacific walrus on beach along the Chukchi Sea
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Young male Pacific walrus on beach of eastern shore of the Chukchi Sea
Aerial view of walruses crowded tightly on a thin strip of land surrounded by sea water. link
Walrus Coastal Haulout Video B-roll (combined)
1,500 walruses resting on shore
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1,500 walruses resting on shore
Pacific walrus hauled out on sea ice in the Chukchi Sea
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Pacific walrus hauled out on sea ice in the Chukchi Sea
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Walruses are very social
Walrus bellowing while hauled out on land in the eastern Chukchi Sea
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Walrus bellowing while hauled out on land in the eastern Chukchi Sea
USGS wildlife biologist working with walruses
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USGS wildlife biologist working with walruses

Below are publications associated with Pacific walrus research.

Polar bear and walrus response to the rapid decline in Arctic sea ice

The Arctic is warming faster than other regions of the world due to positive climate feedbacks associated with loss of snow and ice. One highly visible consequence has been a rapid decline in Arctic sea ice over the past 3 decades - a decline projected to continue and result in ice-free summers likely as soon as 2030. The polar bear (Ursus maritimus) and the Pacific walrus (Odobenus rosmarus diver
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Karen L. Oakley, Mary E. Whalen, David C. Douglas, Mark S. Udevitz, Todd C. Atwood, C. Jay
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Alaska Science Center

Subsurface swimming and stationary diving are metabolically cheap in adult Pacific walruses (Odobenus rosmarus divergens)

Walruses rely on sea-ice to efficiently forage and rest between diving bouts while maintaining proximity to prime foraging habitat. Recent declines in summer sea ice have resulted in walruses hauling out on land where they have to travel farther to access productive benthic habitat while potentially increasing energetic costs. Despite the need to better understand the impact of sea ice loss on ene
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Alicia Borque-Espinosa, Karyn D. Rode, Diana Ferrero-Fernandex, Anabel Forte, Romana Capaccioni-Azzati, Andreas Fahlman
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Alaska Science Center

Evaluation of satellite imagery for monitoring Pacific walruses at a large coastal haulout

Pacific walruses (Odobenus rosmarus divergens) are using coastal haulouts in the Chukchi Sea more often and in larger numbers to rest between foraging bouts in late summer and autumn in recent years, because climate warming has reduced availability of sea ice that historically had provided resting platforms near their preferred benthic feeding grounds. With greater numbers of walruses hauling out
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Anthony S. Fischbach, David C. Douglas
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Alaska Science Center

Variability of lipids and fatty acids in Pacific walrus blubber

The variability of lipid content and fatty acid (FA) composition across blubber depth and body sites are important considerations for condition and diet studies of marine mammals. We investigated lipid and FA variability among inner and outer blubber layers, three body sites, four study years, and lactation status of adult female Pacific walruses (Odobenus rosmarus divergens) using blubber samples
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Chadwick V. Jay, Sara J. Iverson, Anthony S. Fischbach
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Alaska Science Center

DNA metabarcoding of feces to infer summer diet of Pacific walruses

Environmental conditions in the Chukchi Sea are changing rapidly and may alter the abundance and distribution of marine species and their benthic prey. We used a metabarcoding approach to identify potentially important prey taxa from Pacific walrus (Odobenus rosmarus divergens) fecal samples (n = 87). Bivalvia was the most dominant class of prey (66% of all normalized counts) and occurred in 98% o
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Sarah A. Sonsthagen, Chadwick V. Jay, Robert S. Cornman, Anthony S. Fischbach, Jacqueline M. Grebmeier, Sandra L. Talbot
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Alaska Science Center, Molecular Ecology Laboratory

A multi-species synthesis of satellite telemetry data in the Pacific Arctic (1987–2015): Overlap of marine mammal distributions and core use areas

We collated available satellite telemetry data for six species of ice-associated marine mammals in the Pacific Arctic: ringed seals (Pusa hispida; n = 118), bearded seals(Erignathus barbatus, n = 51), spotted seals (Phoca largha, n = 72), Pacific walruses (Odobenus rosmarus divergens, n = 389); bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus, n = 46), and five Arctic and sub-arctic stocks of beluga whales (Del
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John J. Citta, Lloyd F. Lowry, Lori T. Quakenbush, Brendan P. Kelly, Anthony S. Fischbach, Josh M. London, Chadwick V. Jay, Kathryn J. Frost, Gregory O'Corry Crowe, Justin A. Crawford, Peter L. Boveng, Michael Cameron, Andrew L. Von Duyke, Mark Nelson, Lois A. Harwood, Pierre Richard, Robert Suydam, Mads Peter Heide-Jørgensen, Roderick C. Hobbs, Dennis I. Litovka, Marianne Marcoux, Alex Whiting, Amy S. Kennedy, John C. George, Jack Orr, Tom Gray
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Alaska Science Center

Demography of the Pacific walrus (Odobenus rosmarus divergens) in a changing Arctic

The Pacific walrus (Odobenus rosmarus divergens) is a candidate to be listed as an endangered species under United States law, in part, because of climate change‐related concerns. While the population was known to be declining in the 1980s and 1990s, its recent status has not been determined. We developed Bayesian models of walrus population dynamics to assess the population by synthesizing inform
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Rebecca L. Taylor, Mark S. Udevitz, Chadwick V. Jay, John J. Citta, Lori T. Quakenbush, Patrick R. Lemons, Jonathan A. Snyder
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Science Synthesis, Analysis and Research Program, Species Management Research Program, Alaska Science Center, Advanced Research Computing (ARC)

Forecasting consequences of changing sea ice availability for Pacific walruses

The accelerating rate of anthropogenic alteration and disturbance of environments has increased the need for forecasting effects of environmental change on fish and wildlife populations. Models linking projections of environmental change with behavioral responses and bioenergetic effects can provide a basis for these forecasts. There is particular interest in forecasting effects of projected reduc
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Mark S. Udevitz, Chadwick V. Jay, Rebecca L. Taylor, Anthony S. Fischbach, William S. Beatty, Shawn R. Noren
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Species Management Research Program, Alaska Science Center

Evaluation of a method using survey counts and tag data to estimate the number of Pacific walruses (Odobenus rosmarus divergens) using a coastal haulout in northwestern Alaska

Increased periods of sparse sea ice over the continental shelf of the Chukchi Sea in late summer have reduced offshore haulout habitat for Pacific walruses (Odobenus rosmarus divergens) and increased opportunities for human activities in the region. Knowing how many walruses could be affected by human activities would be useful to conservation decisions. Currently, there are no adequate estimates
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Brian Battaile, Chadwick V. Jay, Mark S. Udevitz, Anthony S. Fischbach
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Species Management Research Program, Alaska Science Center

Pacific walrus coastal haulout database, 1852-2016— Background report

Walruses are large benthic predators that rest out of water between foraging bouts. Coastal “haulouts” (places where walruses rest) are formed by adult males in summer and sometimes by females and young when sea ice is absent, and are often used repeatedly across seasons and years. Understanding the geography and historical use of haulouts provides a context for conservation efforts. We summarize
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Anthony S. Fischbach, Anatoly A. Kochnev, Joel L. Garlich-Miller, Chadwick V. Jay
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Species Management Research Program, Alaska Science Center

Below are news releases associated with Walrus Research.

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More than 160 years of Walrus Haulout Observations Reported by Russians and Americans Published as Database

Information will aid marine and conservation planning

Read Article
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Research Shows Historic Decline in Pacific Walrus Population

The Pacific walrus population roughly halved between 1981 and 1999, the last year for which demographic data are available. A recent study by...

Read Article