Walrus Plays With a Hose #shorts

#walrus #kpassionate #shorts
Walruses are incredibly curious and playful animals. In fact, they are my favorite animal of all time. Here, a juvenile walrus named Lakina is thoroughly entertained by a water. While it is cute and funny to see this walrus playing with a hose, it actually highlights some really cool facts about walrus anatomy. Walrus whiskers are actually what's called vibrissae. A walrus has about 400 to 700 vibrissae in 13 to 15 rows on its snout. Each vibrissae is attached to muscles and is supplied with blood and nerves. This not only gives walruses a heightened sense of touch along their mustache, but allows them to move each individual whisker independent of the others!

This video also shows off the incredible suction power of a walrus. After using its vibrissae to root up a clam or mussel, a walrus will grasp the shellfish between its muscular lips to create a powerful vacuum that ruptures the shell. Afterwards, the walrus can suck out the delicate meat. In fact, walruses can suck the meat from over 6,000 clams in one feeding session without ingesting any shells!

Lakina was born at the Aquarium du Quebec in 2016 and I was one of the lucky marine biologists with the privilege to work with her! During that time, this walrus participated in several important research projects into the metabolism of walruses and this information was used to enact laws and policies aimed at protecting their cousins in the wild.

Today the biggest threat facing walruses is the loss of stable sea ice due to climate change. As a result of less sea ice, walrus are changing their behavior. Walruses feed on the ocean floor in the relatively shallow waters of the continental shelf, where the sea ice itself sustains a rich food web.

Learn more about how climate change is affecting the arctic sea ice and the marine mammals like walruses who depend on it in my video about the decline of the snow crab population → https://youtu.be/HvnfUTWe3xs

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