Walrus
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Walrus
Mammal
A huge Arctic seal, easily known by its long ivory tusks — elongated canine teeth grown by both males and females — and its bristly moustache of sensitive whiskers used to find clams on the seabed.
Name Story
Odobenus rosmarus
means “the tooth-walker”
What does its name mean?
- Odobenus — tooth-walkerGreek odous 'tooth' + bainō 'to walk'
- rosmarus — an old Norse name for the animal, which also gives us 'walrus'Old Norse rosmhvalr
'Tooth-walker' describes exactly what a walrus does: it hooks its great tusks over the edge of the ice and uses them to heave its heavy body up out of the sea, as if walking on its teeth.