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10 wacky walrus facts!

Discover these massive marine mammals of the Arctic…

There’s much more to these big, blubbery beach-hoggers than meets the eye! So come on gang, let’s discover some wonderful walrus facts…

Walrus facts

1. There are two sub-species of walrus

Walruses can be found in the far north of our planet. They live in the Arctic – a vast wilderness of snow, ice, and sea. Atlantic walruses live in coastal areas from Canada to Greenland (in the Atlantic Ocean), while Pacific walruses live in the northern seas above Russia and Alaska (in the Pacific Ocean). Cool!

BET YOU DIDN’T KNOW!

The scientific name for a walrus is ‘Odobenus rosmarus’. That’s Latin for ‘tooth-walking sea-horse‘!

2. Walrus tusks can be over 90cm long!

A walrus faces the camera head on, showing off their tusks

Speaking of teeth, walruses have some whopping canines! Both male and female walruses grow long tusks, which help them adapt to Arctic life. These massive, marine mammals use their tall tusks like ski poles, digging them into sand, snow and ice to help them haul their enormous bodies out of the freezing ocean waters! Plus, they’re great for smashing through tough ice from below, creating breathing holes for swimming walruses to catch a breath.

If you love this article, you'll love our Ocean Activity and Colouring Book is written on the post, which shows a book called Ocean Activity and Colouring Book, as well as a blue jellyfish

3. Thick layers of blubber protect walruses from the cold

These massive animals don’t carry all that weight around for no reason! The thick layers of blubber (fat) stored beneath their skin helps walruses stay insulated, keeping them warm and protected from cold. Thanks to all that brr-illiant blubber, walruses are able to withstand freezing temperatures as low as -35°C!

4. Walruses weigh up to 1.5 tonnes!

Even baby walruses are huge! These chunky critters, known as calves, can weigh up to 75kg at birth – that’s the same weight as some adult humans!

A walrus lies sleeping on a rocky beach

5. Their huge size comes from a steady diet of molluscs, crustaceans, and worms!

Walruses grab shellfish like clams from the sea floor, but they also enjoy sea cucumbers and mussels. Adults will sometimes hunt fish, while some huge adult males have even been recording stalking seals.

AMAZING ADAPTATIONS!

Walruses have super sensitive whiskers, which help them detect food at the bottom of the ocean. Once they’ve located a tasty snack, walruses can be surprisingly speedy swimmers, reaching speeds of up to 35km/h to chase down their prey!

6. Walruses can sleep in water!

Sometimes, walruses will forage in places where there’s no nearby ice or land for them to haul themselves out onto for nap. That’s why they have handy ‘pharyngeal pouches – air sacs on their throats that inflate like pillows! Once their pouches are filled with up to 50 litres of air, walruses can doze off, snoozing in a vertical position and kept safe from drowning by their portable pillow – genius!

You'll love our educational magazines for all ages! is written on the post, which shows a book called Oceans Find It! Explore it! which has a clownfish on the front

7. Walruses can live for up 40 years

Walruses have very few natural predators, and their huge size makes them a challenging opponent! Only an orca or a large polar bear would dare try to take on an adult walrus…

Walrus facts | a polar bear stands across from three walruses, having a look at them

8. These astonishing animals are very sociable, but can be aggressive

A walrus colony is a noisy place! These animals live in large groups, known as herds, which gather together on land. Out of the water, the walruses loudly bellow and snort at one another to communicate! During the mating season, male walruses can become very aggressive as they fight for females using their tall tusks. Yikes!

Walruses hauled out on a beach

9. Indigenous Americans are the only people allowed to hunt walruses

Sadly, humans are the biggest predator that the walrus has ever faced. During the 1700-1800s, walruses were almost hunted to extinction, as their meat, tusks, oil, and skin were valuable materials. Now, walrus hunting is illegal for everyone except for indigenous groups like the Inuit, for whom walruses are still a major life resource.

10. Walruses are very sensitive to changes in their environment

Despite their formidable size, walruses are easily spooked! In walrus herds, any sign of danger can cause stampedes as the animals flee land and head towards the safety of water.

A walrus swimming in the water looks around

Did you enjoy our wonderful walrus facts? Let us know in the comments below!

Thanks to Helene Berger; Kira Phạm; Caterina Sanders and Jay Ruzesky for the images used in this article.
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  • Lyrik

    i like walruses

  • Eli

    Loved the facts. They helped a lot!

  • User badge
  • Emily

    The facts are so cool!

  • kitty

    these are awsome facts

  • Karli

    I love your walruses facts

  • Walrus

    Love it

  • I loved it

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  • Kamden

    I loved the facts

  • User badge
  • cool

  • User badge
  • Ryan

    I'm studying about walruses and these are good facts.

  • Mrs. Kendle

    Thanks! This was super helpful for my research to show my 4th grade class! :)

  • Cute and cool walruses!!

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  • ruby

    those were super cool and really fun facts about wacky walruses! {well not all of them}

  • User badge
  • Lil chicken

    That was fun

  • Really helpful facts about walruses

  • ike clanton

    i love wallruses

  • User badge
  • Very nice information ☺️

  • User badge
  • TDOW

    Super cool fact about walruses!

  • hector

    WAlrses can sleep in water

  • User badge
  • hector

    walruses can sleep in water

  • User badge
  • That was a close call for walruses.

  • Tyler

    I never knew walruses were such a valuable resource in 1700-1800 luckily they stopped walrus hunting and saved their species!

  • Alexandria

    never knew there was so much about walruses

  • railee

    cool

  • User badge
  • Adelaide

    I love Nat geo kids! I’ve learned so much from the magazines, I’m full of knowledge!

  • User badge
  • eminem

    walruses are really big!!

  • cory and grace

    wowza walrus was wonderful wowza

  • I love animals

  • Kanye west

    I like walruses

  • Juliann

    Cool

  • User badge
  • Eliab

    I love this sight it is so inspirational and creative. Well done!

  • raquel

    these walruses are wonderful!

  • i love walruses

  • Ora

    Absolutely adorable

  • w

    so cute

  • wow

  • User badge
  • cool!

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  • Yimani

    You helped me have enough information. I just passed it thanks to NatGeo

  • User badge
  • cyym

    cool

  • bob

    These facts are amazing

  • Mango Lion

    best website to learn cool facts. for writing information report's

  • Mango Lion

    Best website to learn cool fact's. Fantastic

  • Jesse.Agaibi

    National Geographic is the best website to learn facts. So cool.

  • Kellen

    Wow that’s cool

  • User badge
  • Monkeymaya

    Amazing

  • Luka Kovachevic

    How long can walruses stay underwater for?

  • Tj

    Cool

  • wacky have long teeth

  • Asher

    :)

  • User badge
  • Colin

    wow

  • DinoQueen357

    I love walruses and I have never known so much about them!

  • DinoQueen357

    WOW, I love walruses and I have never known so much about them! :)

  • Old Fella

    Love It!

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  • polar bear

    wow wow wow

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    i love walruses

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    WOW

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    Nice

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    wow

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    cool

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    that was so cool

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    This is really interesting!!

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    cool

  • Finnleyyo

    Hi

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  • geegee

    great I learnt so much it was the best.

  • User badge
  • MADDY

    SO COOL

  • User badge
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  • I Love this is a good Book

  • skskskskkkskssssssksksksksks

    wow that is super fantastic

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  • SOF

    Amazing thx for putting alot of effort in to this just for us kids.SOF

  • Deku

    I like to use it for research

  • Your mum

    Wow

  • Ashwika

    Nice

  • Ashwika

    This is so learning and fun i love this National Georaphic Kids who ever made this i am giving you 5 out of 5 stars Regards, Ashwika

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  • EVA

    I LOVE POLAR BEAR FACTS

  • Ollie

  • User badge
  • Hamish

    I love polar polar bears

  • Leader

    Coooooolllllll

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  • Leader

    Cool facts my dude

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  • bonbonfred

  • User badge
  • Human

    Cool

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  • James

    I like poler bears which eat walruses

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  • Primrose

    Cool

  • youlikejass

    there so old 100 years wow

  • islauy

  • User badge
  • ononamous

    This was pretty wacky and wonderful

  • jeff

    Walruses are SOOOO heavy!!!

  • User badge
  • Zachary

    I love walruses

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  • i like walrus

  • User badge
  • Sienna

  • cat man

    hi

  • da

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  • Tim cardashian

    That was so interesting.

  • 3695683@2.0

    that is very cool and very amazingly interesting, especially how much heavy they are!!!!

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  • Dog lover 2610

    I love dogs

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  • Riley

  • Ollie

    It was very interesting

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    hi

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  • Lilyana

    I like it

  • Lola

    Cool

  • I_LOVE_2_TYPE

    cool

  • User badge
  • Will

    Wow

  • User badge
  • Sophie

    when I grow up {or now} I will defenetly protect waruses!

  • User badge
  • Eve

    This was so fascinating i never knew the scientific name for walrus and what it means

  • spider cat

  • Airbear

    COOL

  • melody

    lets go!!!! you can take action!!

  • Arden

    Super interesting!

  • Fadbag

    Love this , great facts

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  • User badge
  • super sloppy

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  • Jazlyn

    Wow this is so cool

  • Lily

    Cool

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  • Bunbun

    Love it nice facts

  • ANKr123

    COOL!!

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  • Ethan Huang

    Amazing

  • mmmmeeeeeeeeeeeee

    they are cute

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  • m

    take care everyone.

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  • Siphoesihle

    Hi my new friends

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  • ADDY

    cute and cuby.

  • Noah

  • Potato cat •w•

    I like turtles

  • User badge
  • Jamie

  • User badge
  • Aqua Opals

    Poor walruses! I do hope us humans can protect them and other species.

  • User badge
  • Sophie

    Cool facts

  • User badge
  • Wow

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  • Ava

  • turt

    cute

  • User badge
  • Sharkie

    Amazing story learnt so much going to recommend it to all my Friends they are going to love it more than I did I love walrus I have recently adopted one of them and have only been bit once

  • User badge
  • Great fact

  • User badge
  • sharko

    this helps me a lot

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  • Great

  • User badge
  • malachi.waughnord

    thanks to you im soo good at this thanks

  • james

    these wacky facts were cool and interesting thanks!

  • kasssyk trooper

  • Thanks for the information

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  • William

    Cool!

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  • Pat

  • So good !

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  • dragon nerd

    I love dragons (random comment, sorry)

  • User badge
  • thank for the information

  • Oliver

  • SharkBeauty

    SAVE THE WALRUSES!

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  • bede

    I love it

  • ********************************************************

  • HP Players

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  • edward

    there is a lot to discover

  • walrus man

    wowowowowow wacky

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    wow

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    Amazing

  • Dog

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  • User badge
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    love it

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    I very liked it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!! !!!!!!! !!!!!!

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  • Me

  • Adriana

    Wow very interesting facts!

  • 56789

  • Sere

    Cool!

  • EMMA

    COOL

  • User badge
  • let help the EARTH .

  • User badge
  • Cleia

    That is so so so so awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • Epic That is cool

  • Cool kid

    Cool help save them amazingly cool

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  • also my name

    I like walruses that look funny and yes this a random coment

  • my name

    this was cool and the pictures are quite cute

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  • hi

  • Samii Chavez

  • User badge
  • Cool

  • Cool help save them

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  • Great thanks

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    cool

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    Very cool!!

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    LOL I LOVE IT LAF AWT LOWD

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    i love it

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    AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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    Don't like it .love it

  • thankyou so much i would never think i would have anything like this

  • Hi

  • User badge
  • Cool

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    so awesome and great.

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  • cool

    Wow that was amazing!

  • User badge
  • corn dog

    relly cool but how do walrisis get so fat?

  • sos

    cool

  • User badge
  • Minaga

  • User badge
  • Haben

    AWESOME

  • Sasi

    Cool!

  • User badge
  • amber Queen

  • nah

    cool

  • User badge
  • Amelie

    That's really cool! My favourite animal under the sea is now a walrus! :-)

  • User badge
  • Oisín

    I really, really, really like the facts

  • great

  • User badge
  • thank

  • nice guy

    I did not know that

  • User badge
  • I did not know that

  • Shanai

    Really good website it has amazing facts and it is amazing for little kids to read so get your laptop and get on this website Shy shy out

  • lulu

    i think that they are very cool my favorite fact was that there tusks can be 90 centermeters long

  • So cool

  • User badge
  • evelyn grewal

    those facts were amazing and most of them i did not know

  • Pancake

    Awesome! Cool stuff! Keep it up!

  • henrik

    I love walruses

  • User badge
  • henrik

    I love walruses

  • User badge
  • HELLO

    HELLO

  • Brian Cox

    Hello, it is Brian Cox here and I want to say to you National Geographic Kids, that I think your 10 Walrus facts are amazing. Keep up the great job guys!

  • bees2021

    thank you for all those wacky walrus facts national geographic kids! I really liked them.

  • Prish shah

    I love it

  • User badge
  • mega2004M

    cool

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  • I love it

  • Amazing

  • Nickname

    So cool! Wow!

  • Nickname

    Wow! That is cool!

  • William

    I LOVE the facts

  • User badge
  • Kelley

    There is a lot I didn't know about walruses.

  • cool

  • User badge
  • Zara

    Wow I didn't know the scientific name for a walrus

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  • Calarca 13

  • User badge
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