Scott Hinvuchs, age 8, of Sidney, Nebraska, for his question:
Why does a walrus have tusks?
The seal at the circus is a friendly fellow. He is not fierce. His cousin, the walrus, looks like a dangerous monster and sometimes he is. The walrus has two huge tusks and the seal does not.
A big bull walrus may be twice as long as the seal at the circus. He may weigh as much as six circus seals. Most of his weight is fat, rolls and rolls of blubbery fat. His bulky body looks somewhat like an untidy pile of old inner tubes. His brownish gray skin is loose and wrinkled. A young bull has a thin coat of spiky hairs. As he grows older, his saggy skin becomes bald.
His face has a very solemn expression and he looks like a very serious gentleman of great importance. His top lips are adorned with long, stiff whiskers that hang down in droopy moustaches. And two huge tusks hang down from his upper jaw. The teeth are overgrown canine teeth and the toothy prongs may be two feet long.
The sharp fangs that cats and dogs use to tear their food are canine teeth. You would expect the walrus to use his toothy tusks to tear up great slabs of meat or perhaps to gash his enemies. Certainly he looks like a ferocious giant and no one would want to make him angry. But looks can fool you. Most of the time Mr. Walrus is too tired or lazy to start a fight. He has other uses for his tusks.
We find the tired giant lounging on a huge slab of ice. He uses his big front flippers as arms to prop up his head while he gazes out over the chilly Arctic Ocean. When he gets hungry, he flops into the sea and goes down, down maybe 300 feet below the waves. Down there on the floor of the sea he forages for food.
His favorite foods would surprise you and most other animals cannot eat them. He enjoys prickly sea urchins, clams and crusty crabs. These tough shelled creatures live on the floor of the sea and Mr. Walrus uses his long, toothy tusks to dig them out of the sandy mud. He gobbles them up and swallows them whole crusty shells, prickles and all.
The walrus shares his slabs of floating ice with a herd of his friends and relatives. The chubby babies are born in May and the bull walruses are devoted fathers. In the summer, while the children are growing up, the bulls forget their lazy ways and become fierce fighters. If a killer whale or a hungry polar bear comes near the herd, they attack. When young walruses are in danger, the bulls use their mighty tusks to rip and tear their enemies to pieces.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Walrus use their toothy tusks to grub for crusty food on the floor of the sea. The long, strong tusks are made of creamy white ivory. This hard, glossy, substance may be carved to make jewelry and delicate ornaments. The best ivory comes from elephant tusks. But walrus ivory is almost as good. Sad to say, the gentle giants often are hunted down and stripped of their precious ivory tusks.