Walrus Predators

Walrus Predators and Dangers

An adult walrus has very few predators. This is due to the very large size of these animals. Still, they can end up being prey for sharks and whales. Due to the fact that they live in the Artic, they are also known to be consumed by polar bears. Generally though these predators won’t choose to fight with a healthy full grown walrus.

Instead they will look for the young, the sick, and the weak to consume because they want to eat not be harmed. You would be surprised at what a good fight a walrus can put up against such predators. You may be wondering why they don’t have very many predators.

First, the location where they are at doesn’t allow too many other types of animals to get very close to them at all. Second, they have such thick skin that only predators with very strong teeth and jaws can get through it. Based on such information it would seem that the walrus is very well protected. Yet you have to remember that both whales and polar bears can consume a great deal of food. Therefore they may be feasting upon several of them each day.

When a walrus feels threatened their instinct is to move towards the water. That is where the whales will be able to get them. With the polar bear they are more likely to be caught on land than in the water. The polar bear has the advantage of speed on land. However, it is noted that they may wait patiently for a walrus to come up for air and then quickly swipe it with powerful claws.

The biggest predator that the walrus has ever faced is man. They are generally killed on land because it is hard to get them out of the water after they have been slaughtered. The slaughter of them now is nothing like what it has been in the past though. This is due in part to the various types of protection that have been offered. The predatory nature of humans towards the walrus though has pushed it to the brink of extinction several times over the course of history.

Even with the protection that the walrus has received over the years, there is still believed to be plenty of illegal killing of these animals taking place. That is because they live in the isolated areas of the Arctic region. There aren’t very many people around there to fully manage and to protect these animals. There are many that legally can hunt the walrus in these regions too. They include the Native Americans that depend on them for food.

Yet it has been reported that some of the abuse this power. For money they will take groups of hunters to find the walrus. They are guides to help these illegal hunters to find their prey as well as to successfully kill it. Most of the time those hunters only want to do the killing so the people of the Arctic are able to keep the meat and other benefits. Yet this doesn’t always happen because these illegal hunters find it too each to kill one on land. They prefer to do it in the water where it is harder to get them out. Therefore the carcass floats around and will likely be consumed by a whale.

What occurs when the number of them does increase to high levels though is that they start to take care of each other. In fact, it is believed that the can even become predators with each other. There isn’t enough food around for them all survive so they may feed off of the young or the week in order to survive. In that regard the walrus can become a predator to itself. Yet this will change again once the population has been brought down to a level where nature is in balance with it.