A walrus is a large seallike animal that lives in the cold North, near the edge of the polar ice.

A walrus can be most easily recognized by its white, daggerlike tusks that never

Walrus

stop growing.  The tusks are really two overgrown teeth that curve downward from the mustached upper tip.

Some walruses have tusks three feet long.

Walruses feed on clams and other shellfish which they rake from the sandy ocean floor with their long tusks.  They crack the shells with their strong back teeth.

The tusks also make good weapons against polar bears enemies of the walrus, or as grappling hooks to help the bulky walrus pull itself over the slippery ice.

Walruses prefer to spend much of their time sunning themselves while drifting about on pack ice.

A thick layer of oily fat, or blubber, beneath its wrinkled skin helps protect the walrus from the freezing cold. – Dick Rogers