Carnivorous Walrus and Some Arctic Zoonoses

• Published in: ARCTIC
• Main Author: Fay, Francis H.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: The Arctic Institute of North America 1960
• Subjects: Animal food; Biological sampling; Food; Health; Internal organs; Inuit; Predation; Seals (Animals); Trichinella; Vitamin A; Walruses; Alaska; Canadian Arctic; Greenland; Arctic; inuit; polar bear; walrus*
• Online Access: https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/view/66741

Reviews reports of walrus feeding on seal or whale carrion, or killing them for food. Normally, bottom feeders (benthic invertebrates) in shallow, continental waters, walrus eat mammals when/where invertebrates are unobtainable. The (rare) rogue walrus, habitually carnivorous, has a distinctive external appearance. Some catch data are given with estimates of the carnivores, also those with Trichinella infection. The possibility is aired that such animals like the polar bear, have a high vitamin A content in their liver, or may be a source of trichinosis transmissible to man. Comments by T. H. Manning in Arctic, Mar. 1961, p. 76-77.