Latest Walrus Stories

BUENA VISTA, Colo., Feb. 14, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Walrus & Carpenter Productions LLC proudly announces the availability of its AlicewinksLite series of 12 apps for Android devices. Available on the Amazon app store for Android, Alicewinks apps are audio/video/text products providing a multimedia treatment of Lewis Carroll's original story of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Alicewinks uses artwork from the "golden age of children's illustrated books" in the early 20(th)...

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said Thursday that it would attempt to attach 35 satellite radio-tags to walruses on the northwestern coast of Alaska as part of an ongoing study into how the mammals are responding to reduced Arctic sea ice conditions during late summer and fall. The fast-melting Arctic sea ice seems to be pushing the walruses out onto land, with many moving near the area where oil leases have been sold, the agency said. "Sea ice is an important component in the life...

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Tuesday that the Pacific walrus needs additional protection from the threat of climate warming but cannot be added to the threatened or endangered list because other species have higher priority. Agency spokesman Bruce Wood said the walrus will be added to the "warranted but precluded" list, which is a designation under the Endangered Species Act that allows delays in listing if the agency is making progress listing other species and does not...

Melting sea ice in the southern Arctic Ocean has caused tens of thousands of walruses to come ashore in northwest Alaska. US federal scientists say the move to shore by these marine mammals is unusual for the United States- although this has happened at least twice before, in 2007 and 2009. In those years Arctic sea ice was also near record low levels. U.S. Geological Survey biologist Anthony Fischbach told The Associated Press (AP) in a phone interview that the walruses "stretch out for one...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 7 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The federal Minerals Management Service today gave the green light to Shell Oil's plan to drill exploratory wells in the ecologically rich waters of the Chukchi Sea off Alaska's northwest coast next summer. "We are very concerned because drilling for oil runs the risk of devastating spills in a sensitive marine ecosystem already stressed by dramatic climate change," said Marilyn Heiman, director of the Pew Environment Group's U.S. Arctic...

President Obama designated more than 200,000 square miles in Alaska and off its coast as "critical habitat" for polar bears on Thursday, an action that could add restrictions to future offshore drilling for oil and gas, The Associated Press reported.Under federal law, agencies are restricted from taking actions that may adversely affect critical habitat and interfere with polar bear recovery."It is a step in the right direction to help polar bears stave off extinction, while...

A partial estimate of Pacific walruses puts their minimum population at a mere 15,164, but researchers admit that the count probably missed some of the animals.The estimate, made public Thursday, only includes animals in half of the walrus habitats in the Bering and Chukchi seas and does not include those who were swimming.The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service conducted the count in reaction to a court deadline insisting that the agency outline the marine mammal stocks most hurt by commercial...

Scientists from Canada and the U.S. have discovered the skeleton of a previously unknown web-footed carnivore in Canada's Arctic. The researchers said their discovery sheds light on how seals developed from land-based mammals.The primitive animal, known as Puijila darwini, measured around 43 inches from nose to tail, and had a body similar to that of an otter, but a skull akin to a seal.New research suggests Puijila is a "missing link" in the evolution of the group that today...

A conservation group hopes to force the federal government to add the Pacific walrus to the threatened species list by taking them to court.On Wednesday, the Center for Biological Diversity brought a lawsuit against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne for not acting on a petition seeking to protect the Pacific walrus.According to the group, the Pacific walrus is threatened by global warming which melts Arctic sea ice.  The group has also filed...

Keepers of a walrus at an Istanbul, Turkey, zoo said the water mammal's repertoire of human imitations includes the ability to play the saxophone. Sara the Walrus' Russian trainer, known as Sergiy, taught the whiskered wonder to hold the saxophone between its flippers and blow a note for the crowd at the Istanbul Dolphinarium, which opened to the public Monday, The Daily Telegraph reported Thursday. Officials said Sara's talents also include blowing a train whistle while dressed as a railway...