Sunday, January 22, 2006

A Look At The Odobenus Rosmarus Question




A few years ago I was taking a marine science class. The teacher was quite enthusiastic and I remember as it being a good class. We got to watch a lot of video from the Blue Planet series, which is quite amazing by the way. Anyways I remember him talking about walrus and he said that walrus sometimes eat seals, and they do this by coming up behind the seal and sucking the brain out of the back of their heads. Walrus are very good at sucking. Anyways while I trust this guy's opinion it just sounds so insane that I have always wondered about whether this was true or not.

Anyways, here is what I have dug up.

- Walrus do eat seals sometimes at least "There are some rare but habitual seal-eating walruses. Their diet consists mainly of ringed and bearded seals. These are usually male walruses, recognizable because they are usually larger than other males with powerful shoulder and chest muscles. Their skin may become grease-stained from the blubber of the seals." from here.

- A Walrus' suction ability is well documented. They use it to suck out the insides of shellfish quickly.

- Here is an answering of sorts of the brain question.

- This is totally unrelated to what I am talking about but it is also unusual. It is a picture of a bone that a walrus has that most mammals don't. [insert 'boner' joke here] If you want to read the context with the image go here and scroll down.

While I haven't exactly found out if it happens or not (brain sucking through skull) it is an Urban Legend used to scare children around the World.

Tip of the Day - If you see a walrus staring at you strangely while you are swimming you might want to leave the area.

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