Editing Walrus (section)

==Relationship with  humans==

===Conservation===

In the 18th and 19th centuries, the walrus was heavily exploited by American and European [[Seal hunting|sealers]] and [[Whaling|whalers]], leading to the [[Local extinction|near-extinction]] of the Atlantic subspecies.<ref>{{cite journal| vauthors = Bockstoce JR, Botkin DB |year = 1982|title = The Harvest of Pacific Walruses by the Pelagic Whaling Industry, 1848 to 1914|journal = Arctic and Alpine Research|volume = 14|issue = 3|pages = 183–188|doi = 10.2307/1551150|jstor = 1551150}}</ref> As early as 1871 traditional hunters were expressing concern about the numbers of walrus being hunted by whaling fleets.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Humanities |first=National Endowment for the |date=1871-09-27 |title=The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, September 27, 1871, Image 2 |url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83025121/1871-09-27/ed-1/seq-2/ |access-date=2022-11-27 |issn=2157-1392}}</ref>   Commercial walrus harvesting is now outlawed throughout its range, although [[Chukchi people|Chukchi]], [[Yupik peoples|Yupik]] and [[Inuit]] peoples<ref>{{cite web| vauthors = Chivers CJ |date = 25 August 2002|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/25/magazine/a-big-game.html|title = A Big Game|work = [[The New York Times]] |access-date = March 30, 2022|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220120162346/http://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/25/magazine/a-big-game.html|archive-date =January 20, 2022|df = dmy-all}}</ref> are permitted to kill small numbers towards the end of each summer.

Traditional hunters used all parts of the walrus.<ref>{{cite web|author=US Fish and Wildlife Service|title=Hunting and Use of Walrus by Alaska Natives|year=2007|url=http://alaska.fws.gov/fisheries/mmm/mtrp/pdf/factsheet_walrus.pdf|access-date=9 October 2007|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110515172040/http://alaska.fws.gov/fisheries/mmm/mtrp/pdf/factsheet_walrus.pdf|archive-date=15 May 2011}}</ref> The meat, often preserved, is an important winter nutrition source; the flippers are fermented and stored as a delicacy until spring; tusks and bone were historically used for tools, as well as material for handicrafts; the oil was rendered for warmth and light; the tough hide made rope and house and boat coverings; and the intestines and gut linings made waterproof parkas. While some of these uses have faded with access to alternative technologies, walrus meat remains an important part of local diets,<ref>{{cite journal| vauthors = Eleanor EW, Freeman MM, Makus JC |year = 1996|title = Use and preference for Traditional Foods among Belcher Island Inuit|jstor=40512002|doi=10.14430/arctic1201|journal = Arctic|volume = 49|issue = 3|pages = 256–264|s2cid = 53985170|doi-access = free}}</ref> and tusk carving and engraving remain a vital art form.

According to [[Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld]], European hunters and Arctic explorers found walrus meat not particularly tasty, and only ate it in case of necessity; however walrus [[Tongue (foodstuff)|tongue]] was a delicacy.<ref>{{cite book | first = Adolf Erik | last = Nordenskiöld | translator-first = Alexander | translator-last = Leslie | name-list-style = vanc | publisher = Macmillan and Company | year = 1882 | title = The Voyage of the Vega Round Asia and Europe: With a Historical Review of Previous Journeys Along the North Coast of the Old World Collection Léo Pariseau | url = {{google books |plainurl=y |id=Y-bMaEoOGWAC|page=122}} | page = 122 }}</ref>

<gallery class="center" widths="220px" heights="180px">
File:Pacific Walrus - Bull (8247646168).jpg|Male Pacific Walrus, Alaska
File:Walrus hunter 1911.jpg|Hunter sitting on dozens of walruses killed for their tusks, 1911
File:PolarBearWalrusTuskCarving.jpg|alt=Photo of section of tusk|Walrus tusk [[scrimshaw]] made by [[Chukchi people|Chukchi]] artisans depicting polar bears attacking walruses, on display in the Magadan Regional Museum, [[Magadan]], Russia
File:Valrossarna på Skansen matas av djurskötare och herre i paletå och hög hatt - Nordiska Museet - NMA.0048348.jpg|Walrus being fed at [[Skansen]] in [[Stockholm]], [[Sweden]], 1908
File:Eskimo woman dressing walrus skin, Alaska, nd (COBB 273).jpeg|Native Alaskan woman dresses walrus skin
</gallery>

Walrus hunts are regulated by resource managers in [[Russia]], the United States, Canada, and [[Greenland]], and by representatives of the respective hunting communities. An estimated four to seven thousand Pacific walruses are harvested in [[Alaska]] and in Russia, including a significant portion (about 42%) of struck and lost animals.<ref>{{cite journal|journal = Fishery Bulletin| vauthors = Garlich-Miller JG, Burn DM |year = 1997|title = Estimating the harvest of Pacific walrus, ''Odobenus rosmarus divergens'', in Alaska|volume = 97|issue = 4|pages = 1043–1046|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228991487}}</ref> Several hundred are removed annually around Greenland.<ref>{{cite journal| vauthors = Witting L, Born EW |year = 2005|title = An assessment of Greenland walrus populations|journal = ICES Journal of Marine Science|volume = 62|issue = 2|pages = 266–284|doi = 10.1016/j.icesjms.2004.11.001|doi-access = free| bibcode=2005ICJMS..62..266W }}</ref> The sustainability of these levels of harvest is difficult to determine given uncertain population estimates and parameters such as [[fecundity]] and [[mortality rate|mortality]]. The ''Boone and Crockett Big Game Record'' book has entries for Atlantic and Pacific walrus. The recorded largest tusks are just over 30 inches and 37 inches long respectively.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.boone-crockett.org/bc-worlds-record-atlantic-walrus | work = Boone and Crockett Club | title = B&C World's Record - Atlantic Walrus | date = 29 October 2016 | access-date = 30 March 2022}}</ref>

The effects of [[global climate change]] are another element of concern. The extent and thickness of the pack ice has reached unusually low levels in several recent years. The walrus relies on this ice while giving birth and aggregating in the reproductive period. Thinner pack ice over the Bering Sea has reduced the amount of resting habitat near optimal feeding grounds. This more widely separates lactating females from their calves, increasing nutritional stress for the young and lower reproductive rates.<ref>{{cite news | vauthors = Kaufman M |title = Warming Arctic Is Taking a Toll, Peril to Walrus Young Seen as Result of Melting Ice Shelf|url =https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2006/04/15/warming-arctic-is-taking-a-toll-span-classbankheadperil-to-walrus-young-seen-as-result-of-melting-ice-shelf-span/de231f8a-0e52-48e8-8477-7c939b14c0dd/|newspaper = [[The Washington Post]]|page = A7|date = 15 April 2006|access-date=30 March 2022}}</ref> Reduced coastal sea ice has also been implicated in the increase of stampeding deaths crowding the shorelines of the [[Chukchi Sea]] between eastern Russia and western Alaska.<ref>{{cite web | last = Revkin | first = Andrew C. | name-list-style = vanc | date = 2 October 2009 | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/03/science/earth/03walrus.html?ref=todayspaper | title = Global warming could reverse a walrus comeback | work = The New York Times | access-date = 16 September 2011 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | first = Nick | last = Sundt | name-list-style = vanc | title = As Arctic Sea ice reaches annual minimum, large number of walrus corpses found | url = http://wwfblogs.org/climate/content/arctic-sea-ice-reaches-annual-minimum-large-number-walrus-corpses-found-along-alaska-shoreli | work = World Wildlife Fund | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090924005822/http://wwfblogs.org/climate/content/arctic-sea-ice-reaches-annual-minimum-large-number-walrus-corpses-found-along-alaska-shoreli | archive-date=24 September 2009 | date = 18 September 2009 | access-date = 16 September 2011 }}</ref> Analysis of trends in ice cover published in 2012 indicate that Pacific walrus populations are likely to continue to decline for the foreseeable future, and shift further north, but that careful conservation management might be able to limit these effects.<ref name=MacCracken2012>{{cite journal | vauthors = Maccracken JG | title = Pacific Walrus and climate change: observations and predictions | journal = Ecology and Evolution | volume = 2 | issue = 8 | pages = 2072–90 | date = August 2012 | pmid = 22957206 | doi = 10.1002/ece3.317 | pmc = 3434008 | doi-access = free | bibcode = 2012EcoEv...2.2072M }}</ref>

Currently, two of the three walrus subspecies are listed as "least-concern" by the [[IUCN]], while the third is "data deficient".<ref name="iucn status 19 November 2021" /> The Pacific walrus is not listed as "depleted" according to the [[Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972|Marine Mammal Protection Act]] nor as "threatened" or "endangered" under the [[Endangered Species Act]]. The Russian Atlantic and Laptev Sea populations are classified as Category 2 (decreasing) and Category 3 (rare) in the Russian [[Red Data Book of the Russian Federation|Red Book]].<ref name=MNRRF/> Global trade in [[walrus ivory]] is restricted according to a [[CITES]] Appendix 3 listing. In October 2017, the [[Center for Biological Diversity]] announced they would sue the [[United States Fish and Wildlife Service|U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service]] to force it to classify the Pacific Walrus as a threatened or endangered species.<ref>{{cite news | first = Dan | last = Joling | name-list-style = vanc |url=http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/10/12/group-plans-to-sue-over-walrus-protection/|title=Group plans to sue over walrus protection|date=12 October 2017|work=The Mercury News|access-date=12 October 2017|language=en-US}}</ref>

In 1952, walruses in [[Svalbard]] were nearly gone due to ivory hunting over a 300 years period, but the Norwegian government banned their commercial hunting and the walruses began to repopulate. By 2018, the population had increased to an estimated 5,503 walruses in the Svalbard area.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kubny |first=Heiner |title=Hunting ban helped the walrus on Svalbard |url=https://polarjournal.ch/en/2022/04/07/hunting-ban-helped-the-walrus-on-svalbard/ |access-date=2024-01-29 |website=Polar Journal |language=en-US}}</ref>

===Culture===
====Folklore====
The walrus plays an important role in the religion and [[folklore]] of many [[Arctic]] peoples. Skin and bone are used in some ceremonies, and the animal appears frequently in legends. For example, in a [[Chukchi people|Chukchi]] version of the widespread [[Raven in mythology|myth of the Raven]], in which [[Kutkh|Raven]] recovers the sun and the moon from an evil spirit by seducing his daughter, the angry father throws the daughter from a high cliff and, as she drops into the water, she turns into a walrus .<ref name="Bogoras" /> According to various legends, the tusks are formed either by the trails of mucus from the weeping girl or her long braids.<ref name="Bogoras">{{cite journal| vauthors = Bogoras W |year= 1902|title= The Folklore of Northeastern Asia, as Compared with That of Northwestern America|journal=American Anthropologist|volume=4|issue=4|pages=577–683|doi=10.1525/aa.1902.4.4.02a00020|doi-access=free}}</ref> This myth is possibly related to the Chukchi myth of the old walrus-headed woman who rules the bottom of the sea, who is in turn linked to the Inuit goddess [[Sedna (mythology)|Sedna]]. Both in [[Chukotka Autonomous Okrug|Chukotka]] and [[Alaska]], the [[aurora borealis]] is believed to be a special world inhabited by those who died by violence, the changing rays representing deceased souls playing ball with a walrus head.<ref name="Bogoras"/><ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Boas F | year = 1901 | title = The Eskimo of Baffin Land and Hudson Bay | journal = Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History | volume = 15 | url = {{google books |plainurl=y |id=FOkiAQAAMAAJ|page=146}} | page = 146 }}</ref>

<gallery class="center" widths="220px" heights="180px">
File:Ivorymasks.jpg|alt=Photo of two masks: In the center is the image of a face, surrounded by a ring, in turn surrounded by eight white rectangular pieces.|Walrus ivory masks made by [[Yupik peoples|Yupik]] in [[Alaska]]
File:Briny Beach.jpg|alt=Drawing of walrus, and square-headed men, both perched on rocks, with ocean and cliffs in background|[[John Tenniel]]'s illustration for [[Lewis Carroll]]'s poem "[[The Walrus and the Carpenter]]"
File:Hugo-de-Groot-Nederlandtsche-jaerboeken MG 0188.tif|Dutch explorers fight a walrus on the coast of [[Novaya Zemlya]], 1596
</gallery>

Most of the distinctive 12th-century [[Lewis chessmen|Lewis Chessmen]] from northern Europe are carved from walrus ivory, though a few have been found to be made of whales' teeth.

====Literature====
Because of its distinctive appearance, great bulk, and immediately recognizable whiskers and tusks, the walrus also appears in the popular cultures of peoples with little direct experience with the animal, particularly in English children's literature. Perhaps its best-known appearance is in [[Lewis Carroll]]'s whimsical poem "[[The Walrus and the Carpenter]]" that appears in his 1871 book ''[[Through the Looking-Glass]]''. In the poem, the [[eponymous]] [[antiheroes]] use trickery to consume a great number of [[oyster]]s. Although Carroll accurately portrays the biological walrus's appetite for bivalve mollusks, oysters, primarily [[Littoral zone|nearshore]] and [[intertidal]] inhabitants, these organisms in fact comprise an insignificant portion of its diet in captivity.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Kastelein RA, Wiepkema PR, Slegtenhorst C | year = 1989 | title = The use of molluscs to occupy Pacific walrusses (''Odobenus rosmarus divergens'') in human care | journal = Aquatic Mammals | volume = 15 | issue = 1 | pages = 6–8 | url = http://www.aquaticmammalsjournal.org/share/AquaticMammalsIssueArchives/1989/Aquatic_Mammals_15_1/Kastelein_Wiepkema_Slegtenhorst.pdf | access-date = 9 October 2011 | archive-date = 29 February 2020 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200229232717/https://www.aquaticmammalsjournal.org/share/AquaticMammalsIssueArchives/1989/Aquatic_Mammals_15_1/Kastelein_Wiepkema_Slegtenhorst.pdf | url-status = dead }}</ref>

The "walrus" in the cryptic song "[[I Am the Walrus]]" by [[the Beatles]] is a reference to the Lewis Carroll poem.<ref>{{cite web |last=Zimmer |first=Ben | name-list-style = vanc |title=The Delights of Parsing the Beatles' Most Nonsensical Song |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2017/11/i-am-the-walrus-50-years-later/546698/ |date=2017-11-24|website=The Atlantic|language=en-US|access-date=2019-03-18}}</ref>

Another appearance of the walrus in literature is in the story "The White Seal" in [[Rudyard Kipling]]'s ''[[The Jungle Book]]'', where it is the "old Sea Vitch—the big, ugly, bloated, pimpled, fat-necked, long-tusked walrus of the North Pacific, who has no manners except when he is asleep".<ref>{{cite book | last = Kipling | first = Rudyard | name-list-style = vanc | orig-year = 1894 | title = The Jungle Book | date = 1994 | location = Harmondsworth, England | publisher = Penguin Popular Classics | page = 84 | isbn = 0-14-062104-0 }}</ref>