Mingling Technologies: Tracking Walruses with Telemetry and Inuit Harpoons

• Main Author: SONYA SENKOWSKY
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: American Institute of Biological Sciences 2002
• Subjects: Arctic; Arctic Ocean; inuit; Alaska; walrus*
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1641/0006-3568(2002)052[0774:MTTWWT]2.0.CO;2

Above the Arctic Circle about 50 miles out of Wainwright, Alaska, a team of walrus researchers and Native guides patrolled the Arctic Ocean in a skiff, seeking a female walrus to dart and tag. After days seeking just the right animal and situation, they finally found a likely subject: a walrus sitting calmly on an ice floe. As the dart went in, the animal remained calm. Knowing that the potent drug would take effect within moments, the team—including US Geological Survey biologists Chad Jay and Dave Tessler—prepared to close in. Then their luck changed.