name: Walrus
flavor_db_name_variants: walrus
source: foodb
status: draft
food_db_id: Walrus
id: 537
name_scientific: Odobenus rosmarus
description: The walrus (Odobenus rosmarus) is a large flippered marine mammal with a discontinuous distribution about the North Pole in the Arctic Ocean and subarctic seas of the Northern Hemisphere. The walrus is the only living species in the Odobenidae family and Odobenus genus. This species is subdivided into three subspecies: the Atlantic walrus (O. r. rosmarus) which lives in the Atlantic Ocean, the Pacific walrus (O. r. divergens) which lives in the Pacific Ocean, and O. r. laptevi, which lives in the Laptev Sea of the Arctic Ocean. Adult walruses are easily recognized by their prominent tusks, whiskers, and bulkiness. Adult males in the Pacific can weigh more than 2,000 kg (4,400 lb) and, among pinnipeds, are exceeded in size only by the two species of elephant seals. Walruses live mostly in shallow waters above the continental shelves, spending significant amounts of their lives on the sea ice looking for benthic bivalve mollusks to eat. Walruses are relatively long-lived, social animals, and they are considered to be a "keystone species" in the Arctic marine regions.
itis_id: 180639
wikipedia_id: Walrus
picture_file_name: 550.jpg
picture_content_type: image/jpeg
picture_file_size: 44335
picture_updated_at: 2012-04-20T09:30:31.000Z
legacy_id: 577
food_group: Aquatic foods
food_subgroup: Pinnipeds
food_type: Type 1
created_at: 2011-02-09T00:37:48.000Z
updated_at: 2019-05-14T18:05:27.000Z
creator_id: null
updater_id: null
export_to_afcdb: false
category: specific
ncbi_taxonomy_id: 9707
export_to_foodb: false
public_id: FOOD00537