Talk:Walrus/Archive 2

Culture
Do you think we should include walruses in popular culture? Demonic Phoenix 10:51 26 October 2007 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 194.83.80.3 (talk) 09:53, 26 October 2007 (UTC)


 * I added a section on walruses in folklore and culture, including Lewis Carroll's poem. Eliezg 23:03, 2 December 2007 (UTC)

RE:i dont beleive we should because there indangered!! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.2.60.97 (talk) 20:46, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

Central American Seaway
I think there might be a fault in explaining the separation of two only recently (for the last 0.5-0.75 mio years) diverging species with the Central American Seaway (which dates to a much older period than that). Doesn't that more or less not work on the same level that explaining the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century as being caused by Brontosaurs' mating calls doesn't work? I'm not an expert on Pinnipeds, but isn't it much more likely that the family divided sometime during a warm period when an ice-free Polar sea permitted sea mammal migration? Trigaranus (talk) 14:53, 31 October 2008 (UTC)

Captivity?
It would be interesting to know more about walruses in captivity, for a start maybe a list of where you could see one? As far as I can see there are no walruses in captivity in Britain and probably Europe :(. I am not sure if that is 'encyclopaedic' info.

Walruses seem to be quite clever, there are many videos of them doing tricks, how are they trained? what is there relationship with other animals like? How do they cope with the hot weather in Florida. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 194.80.66.192 (talk) 09:57, 20 February 2009 (UTC)

I have access to the 2004 data which the only site hosting took down. I don't know where I put it, but from memory I believe the only captive walrus in Europe are four in Harderwijk, The Netherlands at their Dolfinarium. There's possibly some in Spain but its unconfirmed. Moscow I believe also has a few. Otherwise of the ~100 in captivity most are in the US or Japan maintained by Sea World. BaShildy (talk) 22:28, 25 March 2010 (UTC)

USGS article about a change in walrus behavior due to sea ice melting caused by Global Warming
This might be worth adding, but I don't have time. http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_SEA_ICE_WALRUS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT —Preceding unsigned comment added by 174.39.209.245 (talk) 00:56, 10 September 2009 (UTC)

Tube worms in diet
The ref links to the on-line abstract, which does not mention which Tube worm genera are among the 5 dozen genera consumed. Left lk'g to Dab page. --Jerzy•t 04:37, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Reproduction

 * "the blastula in suspended development before it implants itself in the placenta" : don't you think there's a problem in that sentence ? An embryo that implants itself in a placenta ?? VonTasha (talk) 13:30, 3 April 2010 (UTC)

Pending changes
This article is one of a number selected for the early stage of the trial of the Pending Changes system on the English language Wikipedia. All the articles listed at Pending changes/Queue  are being considered for level 1 pending changes protection.

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Comments on the suitability of theis page for "Pending changes" would be appreciated.

Please update the Queue page as appropriate.

Note that I am not involved in this project any much more than any other editor, just posting these notes since it is quite a big change, potentially

Regards, Rich Farmbrough, 00:36, 17 June 2010 (UTC).

Is this for real
Can walruses actually do this, or was the video in question doctored? If it's legit, maybe we should add it to the section on their behavior. Stonemason89 (talk) 03:45, 8 December 2010 (UTC)

Ruel-Bone
This meme should be added to the culture section.

Ruel-bone is an archaic name for a decorative or ceremonial carving, often into a dagger or sword, of a walrus tusk.

This usage comes up in Unfinished Tales by J.R.R. Tolkien, edited by Christopher Tolkien.

This word is exceptionally rare. Tolkien seems to have been aware of it because he was the editor in charge of the letter w in a revision of the Oxford English Dictionary. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 184.167.146.105 (talk) 06:18, 26 January 2012 (UTC)

Much too much about this at the beginning
Much too much about etymology and other subsidiary subjects is at the beginning of this article. Put that at the end if you wish to have it.

Up at the top, put the essentials: Where do they live? How big are they? What do they eat? How many of them are there? Where do they find shelter? How well do they move on land? How well do they swim? How do they reproduce? Are females pregnant for six months or two years? Do they reproduce very often? This latter thing is as big problem with species like gorillas, orangutans, certain kinds of whales and seals, some species of birds (e.g. condors and Emperor penguins), platypuses, certain reptiles, etc., that do not reproduce very often, and not too many times in their lifetimes. Compared to these issues, the etymology of the word and some other things are VERY minor ones, indeed.98.67.97.225 (talk) 20:46, 8 June 2012 (UTC)

== "walrus land ?" ==

... sorry if I am faux passing, but AUstralia was a surprise. i don't know how to squigglyline either! sorry. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.218.20.127 (talk) 19:05, 12 September 2012 (UTC)

Vocalisations/whistling?
Upon viewing this video, I wonder if some information should be included about walrus vocalisations and whistling. Obviously, a single walrus on a YouTube video isn't a definitive source, so I am curious if there is any research into it. That a non-human mammal is capable of whistling, even if not melodically, is certainly noteworthy. Lothar von Richthofen (talk) 04:07, 20 September 2012 (UTC)

Capt. Cook was unaquainted with the word "walrus" when he sailed the North Pacific--he calls them "sea horses," which he considers a misnomer. Understanding the Scandinavian etymology is critical to understanding their recent ecology: Danish sealers hunted them to extinction in the north east Atlantic; Greenlanders kept the word alive. 18th century England was ignorant of the ancient word for the beast and apparently of the beast itself. Nor had the map maker ever seen one, centuries earlier.

This: "From there, it presumably recolonized the North Pacific Oceanduring high glaciation periods in the Pleistocenevia the Central American Seaway." --makes no sense at all. This seaway closed up 3mya--long before this genetic division of less than 1my. And why appeal to a Panama connection when the Arctic is there for the asking? Sheer nonsense. 67.128.133.10 (talk) 19:34, 5 December 2012 (UTC)agfosterjr

interference by humans
I noticed that the article says

"Their population has rebounded somewhat since then, though the populations of Atlantic and Laptev walruses remain fragmented and at low levels compared with the time before human interference."

and I am interested in which humans the article means, assuming that the numbers of walrus have declined from what numbers since which humans interfered with them after they had been being hunted by which other humans for how long?

please adjust this article so as than it adheres to Npov as opposed to the current postindustrial Eurocentric bias. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 220.233.43.217 (talk) 08:20, 31 January 2013 (UTC)

Seen in Orkney
uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-21647421 the bbc news article  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 178.191.252.228 (talk) 21:35, 3 March 2013 (UTC)

Distribution map
The distribution map is a detail - it's difficult to tell where it is on the globe. Furthermore, other maps show that walrus are distributed more widely east to west. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.6.200.115 (talk) 02:09, 12 February 2014 (UTC) Mountain Walrus Discovered by the American Academy Larnaca in the high fields of Troodos. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 93.109.25.220 (talk) 17:55, 21 February 2014 (UTC)

Contradiction in Etymology section
These two bits about the species's canonical name contradict each other:


 * The species name rosmarus is Scandinavian. ...


 * Compare морж (morž) in Russian ... Olaus Magnus ... first referred to the walrus as the ros marus, probably a Latinization of morž ...

-- Myria (talk) 08:33, 23 April 2014 (UTC)

linking to odobenids and otariids
Anaxial: where is the previous link? What is wrong with linking these terms to the relevant Wikipedia article? --Richardson mcphillips (talk) 00:21, 10 May 2014 (UTC)
 * They're already linked earlier in the same paragraph - Line 42, under "Taxonomy and evolution", second sentence. Anaxial (talk) 06:47, 10 May 2014 (UTC)

Gestation period - please change days to month!
129.67.81.101 (talk) 13:04, 7 September 2015 (UTC)

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Semi-protected edit request on 30 January 2020
Under "Relation to Humans" and "Conservation", remove the last sentence of para. 5 stating, "However, there is insufficient climate data to make reliable predictions on population trends.".

The article referenced no longer is published, only available as an archive. This piece of information is not stated in the article. In addition, the article is out of date from 2010 and substantial information has been collected in the past 10 years showing the impact of climate change on the walrus population. Especially knowing that sea ice extent in the summer is much lower today than in 2010.

References supporting the above:

https://www.worldwildlife.org/stories/climate-change-puts-the-pacific-walrus-population-on-thin-ice

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/ece3.317 (The abstract alone refutes the sentence in question)

Thank you for your time and review of this page. 214.37.141.13 (talk) 14:27, 30 January 2020 (UTC)
 * ✅ Done. Anaxial (talk) 18:50, 30 January 2020 (UTC)

Number of tusks
The article does not state how many tusks a walrus has. We know it's usually two. I saw a National Geographic Wild TV documentary where an Alaskan walrus had three tusks, but I can't find other documentation. TGCP (talk) 15:36, 18 December 2020 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 20 March 2021
In regard to walrus location, there has been another single sighting of a walrus at Broad Haven south beach, Pembrokeshire, Wales. It was spotted on Friday the 19th of march 2021 Jackpatt98 (talk) 22:58, 20 March 2021 (UTC)
 * Red information icon with gradient background.svg Not done: please provide reliable sources that support the change you want to be made. ~ Aseleste  (t, e &#124; c, l) 10:17, 21 March 2021 (UTC)
 * , a possible source would be here. However, I'd suggest that this doesn't warrant adding to the article - we don't need a list of all the places that walruses have occasionally been spotted. Girth Summit  (blether)  10:25, 21 March 2021 (UTC)

Etymology
At the end of the etymology section, it says an alternative theory is that walrus came from Dutch wal and reus. At the top, the source's author says they used " Wikipedia, OED, the superb Oxford New Encyclopedia of Mammals, the excellent Etymonline + more sources " without directly citing the walrus etymology. In my brief search, I found no other source mentioning the Dutch theory that wasn't either citing Wikipedia or the Iberian Nature source (if citing anything at all). I suggest we either remove the Dutch "walreus" etymology or elaborate that Walrus came from Dutch Walrus with likely origins in the Old Norse. This paints a more accurate picture.

Etymonline could be a decent source (https://www.etymonline.com/word/walrus#etymonline_v_4812) or perhaps we could elaborate on the Tolkien etymologies, although the Tolkien page already talks about JRR Tolkien's work on the word Walrus (https://public.oed.com/blog/jrr-tolkien-and-the-oed/). Lukewarm Cabbage (talk) 23:59, 12 May 2021 (UTC)

Relevant links should be added to the 'See also' section of the article
In my opinion, relevant links should be added to the 'See also' section of the article as it is currently empty and in my opinion it is pointless having an empty tab within the article. Xboxsponge15 (talk) 11:09, 28 June 2021 (UTC)

Ecology, Range and Habitat
The article currently argues that the population of the Atlantic walrus "probably remains below 20,000". It uses references to the North Atlantic Marine Mammal Commission to support this argumentation. Although it remains very difficult to have a clear estimate, these references are outdated as more recent abundance estimates now suggest the Atlantic Walrus population to number between 30,000 and 40,000 individuals. This information is provided on the website of the North Atlantic Marine Mammal Commission (see here) and results from a compilation of independent scientific studies on abundance estimates of the walrus population in the Atlantic. If the article could update this information, it'd be great. Thanks! MartinNAMMCO (talk) 10:46, 30 November 2021 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 18 December 2021
Add to Conversation section

The WWF and British Antarctic Survey have a citizen scientist project called Walrus from Space where the public can become 'walrus detectives' and help spot walruses from aerial images. Wytepyrate (talk) 00:04, 19 December 2021 (UTC)
 * Red information icon with gradient background.svg Not done: please provide reliable sources that support the change you want to be made. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 00:35, 19 December 2021 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 15 July 2022
Walrus sighted in Hamina Finland in 2022 Source: Totta se on! Pelastuslaitos julkaisi kuvan Haminan mursusta https://www.is.fi/kotimaa/art-2000008947063.html Uuzkaar (talk) 08:41, 15 July 2022 (UTC)

New sighting of walrus out of its habitat Uuzkaar (talk) 08:42, 15 July 2022 (UTC)


 * Red question icon with gradient background.svg Not done: it's not clear what changes you want to be made. Please mention the specific changes in a "change X to Y" format and provide a reliable source if appropriate. WelpThatWorked (talk) 14:14, 15 July 2022 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 19 July 2022
Change the sentence in Range and habitat section from "In June 2022, a single walrus was sighted on the shores of the Baltic Sea - at Rügen Island, Germany, Mielno, Poland and Skälder Bay, Sweden." to "In June 2022, a single walrus was sighted on the shores of the Baltic Sea - at Rügen Island, Germany, Mielno, Poland, Skälder Bay, Sweden and Hamina, Finland.". Here is an English source https://yle.fi/news/3-12538568 2001:14BA:16FB:3300:0:0:0:1 (talk) 2001:14BA:16FB:3300:0:0:0:1 (talk) 11:46, 19 July 2022 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 22 July 2022
CURRENT: In July 2022, there was a report of a lost, starving walrus in the coastal waters of the towns of Hamina and Kotka in Kymenlaakso, Finland,[63][64] that, despite rescue attempts, died of anesthesia when the rescuers tried to transport it to the Korkeasaari Zoo for treatment.[65]

NEW: -- that died during rescue attempt when the rescuers tried to transport it to Korkeasaari Zoo for treatment [65]. Autopsy was done and starvation was confirmed as cause of death. [New link]

English link below. Source is YLE, our national "BBC". https://yle.fi/news/3-12546773 176.72.50.40 (talk) 10:38, 22 July 2022 (UTC)
 * Red information icon with gradient background.svg Not done: Grammar. Aaron Liu (talk) 14:59, 30 July 2022 (UTC)