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TAGS REVEAL WALRUS MIGRATION
Adapted from items on www.news.bbc.co.uk: 03 & 12 April 2007
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The Swedish wlidlife photographer Goran Ehlme has spent the last decade diving with walruses, taking underwater images of them. It has taken him a long time to understand walrus behaviour. |
Snapping a walrus underwater is hard work. The photographer first approaches in a dinghy, then gets into the water and waits at the surface until the walrus gets used to his presence. Once the walrus is calm, he then dives 20m down. He waits with his camera poised as the walrus begins to feed on the clams and molluscs buried under the sediment at the seabed. |
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Walruses can feed for 48 hours at a time. Goran explains: "They are feeding for five minutes on the bottom, they come up to the surface and go back down again. Up and down for hours without stopping – they are like a machine." |
Weighing 1.5 tonnes, these beasts can be extremely dangerous if they feel threatened, and their big tusks have been known to kill even the great Arctic predator, the polar bear. "The first time (diving) was extremely frightening, said Goran. "They are huge animals, and they can be pretty grumpy. But when feeding, they are extremely focused on what they do – I have never had a problem with a walrus feeding." |
In 2006, Goran won the prestigious Shell Wildlife Photographer of the Year award for this picture of a walrus feeding on clams on the sea floor. |
POSTSCRIPT. In west Greenland, scientists have attached satellite tags to eight walruses to find out where they are migrating over the summer months. Below is a map showing walrus distribution in the Arctic. |
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