Is This the World's Toothiest Mattress?
Seen from above, a group of walruses is an inchoate mass of blubber and tusks. Walruses are social animals, who need physical contact, helping them keep warm and feel safe. Even when it is warm and there is plenty of space, the creatures prefer to pack in like extremely large, mammalian sardines. Reserving dry land for mating and raising young in the spring, they can spend weeks out at sea, resting on ice floes. Once an unusual sight in Southern Alaska, rising temperatures in the far north mean less water covered in ice, and instead more beaches covered in walrus.