A day in the life of Wilfred the Walrus

Welcome to the Arctic circle in Greenland! My friends and family all gather on large ice shelves. There can be thousands of us with male and females living in different herds.

We are very loud. Us walruses tend to bellow and snort very loudly to chat to each other.

I see you are looking at my magnificent tusks! They never stop growing! But they are very useful especially when one of those little walrus pups wants to pick a fight. I even use my tusks to help me walk!

Sometimes people are mean and call me fat. But I am very thick skinned. Well - thick blubber actually and it is VERY clever blubber. It keeps me warm and acts as a cushion as I bounce around the hard ice. My forelimbs and hindlimbs are webbed like oars so I can glide gracefully through the water.

To maintain my healthy physique I eat a lot of shellfish, snails and sea cucumbers. My eyesight is very bad however and I need my sensitive whiskers to help me find my food at the bottom of the murky waters.

As you know, manners are very important in life. Unfortunately, I’ve been told that my table manners may need some work. I like to use my front flippers and suck the meat out of molluscs before leaving the remains on the seafloor. I hope you don’t behave like this in your home.

FUN FACT! A walrus' favourite food is sea cucumbers. We get in a right pickle if we can't find any.

No doubt Nigel the Nervous Narwhal has told you about how scared he is about melting ice. Less ice means less room for our big family gatherings and all the arctic animals. More shipping and tourism means it is also a lot noisier than it used to be. Us walruses don’t like noise, it makes us dash towards the sea. This can be dangerous for all of us living tightly packed together.

Check out my cool video to learn more about melting ice. Have fun learning about the arctic and Learn the World!