Without them, it’s like without hands: why do walruses need tusks? Why does an elephant need a trunk and why does it need tusks? Walrus tusks or tusks.
Inhabiting the southern hemisphere of the Earth. Distinctive feature These mammals are, of course, their long fangs, which over time turned into tusks. Why do walruses need tusks? We will try to answer this question in our article.
Who are walruses?
These are representatives of the class of mammals living in the Arctic seas, which represent the only modern look, belonging to the family of the same name - Walrus. Systematically, walruses belong to the group of pinnipeds. Adults are easily identified by their prominent long tusks. It is a mistake to believe that these are independent fangs. This is not entirely true, because over time the upper tusk of the walrus changed not only its shape, but also its purpose: it became a real tusk. But we'll talk about this a little later.
Description of the species
Before explaining why walruses need tusks, we should consider in detail this type of heavyweight pinniped. Walruses are large sea pinnipeds with rather thick skin covered with short yellow-brown hair. Its thickness can sometimes exceed 5 centimeters. With age, hair falls off. Older individuals have almost bare skin. Under the skin just above the shoulder blades there are two outgrowths. The so-called air sacs are hidden under them. Walruses fill them with air, which allows them to sleep on the surface of the water.
The body length of adult males can exceed 4 meters, and their maximum weight is 2 tons. As mentioned above, the large upper canines eventually turned into well-developed tusks. Their total weight reaches 12 kilograms. Each tusk grows up to 1 meter in length. The walrus (photo presented in the article) has a fairly wide muzzle, lined with a large number of thick and hard bristles, reminiscent of whiskers (vibrissae). These animals lack external hearing organs, and their eyes are small and blind.
Distribution of the species
Walruses are typical Arctic inhabitants. For example, the Pacific subspecies is found in shallow waters in the Chukchi and East Siberian seas. Scientists estimate that the current population of Pacific walruses is no more than 200,000 individuals. The lion's share of them is found not only in the Chukchi and East Siberian seas, but also near summer period Walruses can be observed in Anadyr and Bristol bays.
Unfortunately, the Atlantic subspecies of walrus was practically exterminated as a result of commercial fishing, which at one time was not controlled by the relevant authorities. The subspecies of pinnipeds currently does not exceed 20,000 individuals. Distributed from Arctic Canada, Spitsbergen and Greenland to the western Russian Arctic.
Walrus tusks
The tusks are the most characteristic feature all adult walruses. As mentioned above, these were once fangs, which over time lengthened and transformed into tusks. Both males and females have them. These fangs grow throughout the animal’s life, constantly being renewed. Why do walruses need tusks? Of course, for fights, for social dominance, for searching for food... And more! Let's consider this issue in more detail.
Why does a walrus need tusks?
Tusks are a universal tool of all walruses. They are also used as an ice ax, without which it is simply impossible to cross the slippery ice, and as a kind of shovel, with the help of which walruses remove shells from the seabed, and as a support for a heavy head, and even as lethal weapons, necessary for battle with rivals and enemies (polar bears). In addition, these heavyweight pinnipeds use their tusks to stab big catch. In the end, this is a kind of distinctive sign of walruses: whoever has the most powerful tusks is in charge!
As you can see, there are many explanations for why walruses need tusks. Scientists say that, despite all the above advantages of tusks, their main role is social. The fact is that long and powerful fangs indicate appropriate social status of one or another individual: in any aggregation of walruses, the leader and leader is precisely the individual whose fangs will visually look more powerful and longer than those of others.
If, for example, a dominant male suddenly meets his relative with exactly the same long and large fangs, a fight cannot be avoided! Such battles do not always lead to the death of a weak enemy; very often one of the walruses leaves the battlefield. Scientists note that the social mark of walruses, concentrated in their tusks, is not limited to the dominance of these animals. The shape of the tusks and their size also indicate the age and sex of the pinniper.
Why does a walrus still need tusks? For hunting, of course! It is impossible not to note how walruses obtain food for themselves with the help of their long tusks. The animal dives deep into the sea, gets to the very bottom and there, with the help of its tusks, it begins to scour in search of food: oysters, shells, mussels and other mollusks. The walrus digs up the seabed with its tusks and skewers the victim on its tusk, like a piece of meat on a skewer!
The main Chukchi souvenir is a product made from walrus tusk. But in order for a master bone carver to make a masterpiece, like in the title photo, a walrus tusk must be obtained. A post about the difficult and unattractive work of walrus tusk hunters.
Walrus tusks (like teeth) can be obtained in two ways: by hunting walrus (according to a quota) and in rookeries, from corpses. “Removing” fangs in both cases occurs using approximately the same technology. The difference lies in the smells.
2. After the walruses have left the rookery, the corpses of animals that died in a stampede or for some other reason remain on the shore. 
As a rule, after the walruses leave the rookeries, residents of the surrounding villages clean up the corpses, dragging them with heavy equipment to special places, so-called feeding points for polar bears. But before the equipment arrives at the rookery, the tusks must be “removed” from the walruses.
I won’t describe what a dead walrus smells like, suffice it to say that after working on corpses, it will no longer be possible to rid clothes of the smell.
To work on removing fangs, you need: a knife, a sharpener, an ax and a hook with a rope. First, the muzzle is cut off (in the photo below it lies in the lower right corner). After which the periosteum of the fangs is cut out with an ax. This is a simple way to obtain tusks when the walrus has died in the so-called. "standing pose".
3.
4. It is much more difficult to obtain tusks when the walrus has buried its head in the sand or has fallen on its side. 
5. In this case, a hook and rope are needed 
6. To remove the fangs, in this case, you need to cut off the head. Cutting off the head is not a complicated process, but it is not physically simple either. Especially when you work alone. After the head has been separated, the process of removing the fangs is the same as in the first case. 
7. But there is a simpler method, which, however, requires skill. Knocking out fangs with a club. This method is used when the walrus is thoroughly rotten. An experienced fang hunter knocks out a fang with one blow. 
Not only tusks are harvested from walruses, but also the baculum, the bone penis. The work of extracting the baculum is even more troublesome and smelly than when extracting fangs (when they are caught in rookeries).
8. First you need to cut the skin and separate the baculum from the body. 
9. After the baculum is removed, it is cleaned 
10.
11. As a result, what remains is this bone, which is popularly referred to as “walrus dick.” 
After extraction, the bones are boiled and given/sold to bone carving workshops.
11. A bone carver cuts a souvenir from a baculum. 
Souvenirs are bought by tourists and the residents of Chukotka themselves, and a piece of the walrus continues to live on home shelves, shelves and sideboards.
November 24 is International Walrus Day. The purpose of this holiday is to attract public attention to the problems of restoring the population of these pinniped giants. Despite the fact that hunting for walruses today is strictly regulated, the issue of the extinction of these mammals still does not lose its urgency.
The walrus population has still not recovered from the great hunt that took place on them in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. And these Arctic animals were killed, among other things, for their huge fangs. They are much stronger than elephant tusks and are ideal for various crafts and souvenirs. These two teeth in mature individuals can reach a length of 1 m and weigh up to 5.4 kg.
On Walrus Day, AiF.ru talks about how these huge pinnipeds use their tusks.
Sword
Despite its impressive appearance, the walrus has many dangerous enemies— he has to defend himself from polar bears and killer whales. And relatives also often strive to sort things out by force when it comes to fighting for territory or the favor of a female. For all these cases, the walrus has one weighty argument - its tusks. The fights in which these mammals take part sometimes even end in the death of one of the “duelists.”
Ice ax
Due to their large body mass, it can be quite difficult for walruses to get out of the water and onto the shore. To climb onto a slippery ice floe, a walrus can use its tusks - it clings to the edge of the ice hole and, holding on to it, pushes itself onto the shore. He also makes wormwood in the ice with his tusks so he can breathe while in the water.
Fork
The main food of walruses is mollusks and crustaceans, which they obtain on the seabed. With the help of their sensitive whiskers - vibrissae, animals search for shells or worms, roll the collected food into lumps, and then suck it up. As walruses age, their vibrissae wear out, so walruses have to use their canines to dig up small organisms.
Attribute of power
The size of the tusks of a male walrus is of great importance for his relatives. Fangs determine his “status”: whoever has them larger is more important. As a rule, they are larger in older individuals, so their owners enjoy unquestioned authority among the flock. Males with the most powerful fangs usually boast the largest harem.
What are they bringing from Chukotka? The main souvenir is crafts made from walrus tusks. Figurines depicting Chukchi or wild animals will follow you everywhere, and sellers will persuade you to buy. But these are some of the most expensive souvenirs in the world: walrus ivory is worth like gold! And a relatively small figurine can cost thirty thousand rubles.
Bringing magnets is trivial, buying such expensive trinkets is unsporting. That’s why I brought a photo story about an Anadyr master who cuts tusks for days on end.
1 Small apartment in an old wooden house in the center of Anadyr. There is a workshop for making national souvenirs here. I have been to many “home” workshops, they always look about the same, no matter what they make.
2 Vladimir, the master himself, opened the door for me. Pokachalu seemed rather gloomy: he was asked to meet by a business partner, a seller of these very souvenirs from a shopping center, with whom we talked on the street. He immediately got down to business, showed me a few dominoes, without fully understanding what I wanted from him.
3 The sticks that look like pieces of wood lying under your feet are those very expensive tusks, whole and in parts. Raw materials are purchased in the eastern regions of the Chukotka District, everything is absolutely legal. But for some reason walruses are not openly called walruses, calling it impersonally - sea beast. When I heard this for the first time in Chukotka, I didn’t immediately understand what kind of marine beast this was!
4 What do you think is the most expensive thing about a craft made from walrus tusk? The eminence of the master, the art of carving? No, the size of the fang itself! It accounts for up to seventy percent of the price. That is, everything else, it turns out, is not so important.
5 It was strange to see such expensive material practically lying on the shelves. In fact, it is being aged. It takes at least a year from the moment of extraction for the tusks to completely ossify and be ready for work. If you start too early, it will crumble.
6 Another material for Chukchi souvenirs is bear claws. They do not become independent crafts, but are actively used as stands.
7 Among other things, Vladimir showed a very rare thing - a walrus dick! The real one! I was surprised to learn that the walrus has this bone. And at the same time, the largest penis on the planet is also that of a walrus!
8 And here are the finished crafts: an engraving on a walrus tusk. This thing costs more than a thousand dollars.
9 The previous photo shows only a blank; this is the final version, decorated with national subjects, all made from the same walrus ivory. How do you like a souvenir for 60-70 thousand rubles? Ready to buy?
10 Meanwhile, in one of the workshop rooms there is very funny wallpaper.
11 Vladimir has been engaged in artistic carving for fifteen years, but this is far from his only profession. Today he is 62, and most In life he was a dancer in a local ensemble. Then he changed several professions, artists retire early. But I found myself precisely in this carving. He remembers that his mother told him about how, as a little boy, he easily cut out various figures and weapons from pieces of wood. He says that he does this business not so much for the sake of earning money, but for the sake of the process itself and his own pleasure. And also, to be alone with himself: Vladimir has a whole string of grandchildren of different ages at home.
12 The work of a carver is most similar, you would never guess, to the profession of a dentist! Incisors (as the instruments are called) are essentially low-power drills with different attachments.
13 A tusk blank measuring four centimeters in length is transformed in literally ten minutes of work in skillful hands...
14 ...into a lying bear! Or a Chukchi boy. Or a walrus, a mammoth, or any other figure.
15 This walrus didn't seem to be brushing his teeth well! Natural defects, caries and pulpitis come across. Such work has to be thrown away; it loses its value and becomes practically worthless.
16 On the mezzanine of the workshop lay a heap of elk antlers. It’s also material, but Vladimir said that it’s not interesting to work with it, except perhaps to use it as an auxiliary one.
17 At first, Vladimir reacted coolly to my visit, but then we started talking, he began to smile, joke, and talk about his life.
18 It’s surprising that I spent a week in Chukotka, three days in the city of Anadyr, but I found the master and filmed this story in the last half hour before my boat departed for the airport village. This little photo story, in fact, made this whole trip meaningful and complete. Because abandoned houses and colorful houses Soviet period that's wonderful...but living people and their stories are what I travel for.
The walrus is a special animal. Everything about it is unique: size, weight, habitat. The walrus is the only representative of the walrus family. He hears perfectly, although he does not have ears, and he moves well, although he does not have legs. In addition to this, the walrus has one more interesting feature– powerful long fangs, which, by analogy with similar tusks of land animals, are often also called tusks.
There have been many theories about why the walrus needs tusks. Some naturalists have suggested that fangs are a means of transportation. But if this were actually the case, then the females, whose fangs are much shorter, would not be able to move. The assumption that walruses get their food with the help of their tusks was also refuted. Again, if this were the case, how would females and young males feed?
Researchers have already proven that whiskers, not fangs, help walruses find food. With them, the animal “probes” the bottom and rolls the collected food into lumps. A walrus can have more than five hundred vibrissae on its face, which wear out with age. It was then that, having lost their sensitive “whiskers,” walruses use their fangs to dig up mollusks, crustaceans and worms. When a walrus is in captivity and there is no need for it to “plow” the bottom in search of food, its whiskers reach a much greater length than those of its wild relatives. While in nature these “whiskers” reach a length of about ten centimeters, in a zoo they can be up to thirty centimeters long.
Today it is known why the walrus needs tusks - to determine its “status”. The longer and more powerful the fangs, the larger the male’s harem. With the help of fangs, males find out who is stronger.
However, this does not at all eliminate the use of fangs for other purposes. If necessary, a walrus can use its tusks to climb onto an ice floe. The growth of fangs is a very long process. In some individuals it can take more than fifteen years. With the help of powerful tusks, walruses can break ice, but their main purpose is to demonstrate to their opponent who is stronger.
Unfortunately, the authority of the walrus's tusks, so indisputable among its relatives, has no influence on humans. It was because of their tusks that walruses were mercilessly exterminated. Moreover, the more powerful they were, the greater danger their owner was exposed. Products made from walrus tusks have always brought good profits. Today, hunting these animals is strictly regulated.
