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Walrus Tagging 2008

walrus tagging
on the radio

(April 13, 2009) KUCB Unalaska | Walrus scat may provide a key to understanding the changing Arctic ecosystem. It turns out fecal matter is more than just waste, it’s a wealth of information about a walrus’s diet, its sex, and even its stress levels. Listen

(April 9, 2008) Alaska Public Radio Network | Biologists are getting a rare glimpse into the winter habits of Pacific Walrus. A new tagging study is offering insight into how the animals affect the Bering Sea environment. Hear an Alaska Public Radio interview with walrus researcher Tony Fischbach

The entire population of Pacific Walrus gathers in the Bering Sea in the winter to breed, but that doesn't mean the animals are easy to find.

Finding them

two walrus on ice"From a helicopter swooping low over the Bering Sea, Chad Jay spotted walruses resting on an expanse of sea ice.

The pilot dropped off Jay and his companions a good distance away so they could approach their quarry undetected. Drawing near, they paused to unload their equipment and ready their crossbow, and then began the final approach.

Suddenly, the large panel of ice the walrus was sitting on began to shift and drift away from the party. “It started taking our walrus away from us,” recalls Jay. “He went right into the water." Full Story in Plenty Magazine

Tracking them

In 2008, Fishbach, Jay and their team attached satellite radio-tags to 10 adult walruses (both males and females) to map walrus foraging locations within the St. Lawrence Island polynya.  The radio-tags characterize hourly walrus foraging status and provide animal location estimates for 6 to 8 weeks. 

following tagged walrusIn summer 2008, The team reported a lot of travel by the ten adult male and female walruses that were radio-tagged by crossbow during the spring 2008 BEST-BSIERP research cruise aboard the USCGC Healy.  

Male walruses tend to wander more than females, and as the ice melts in spring, move toward land haulouts on the coast of Russia and Bristol Bay, Alaska.  The next step is to compare foraging locations in the St. Lawrence Island polynya to the distribution of benthic prey and sea ice. See a larger image of where the walrus traveled.

These data will be used with data from benthic samples collected in the same region to describe foraging effort by walruses relative to the distribution of their prey.

 

See an animation of where the walrus are right now.

Read a USGS Fact Sheet on walrus and Arctic sea ice.