Carcasses of dead walruses spotted on Alaska coast

Up to 200 dead walruses have been spotted on the shore of Chukchi Sea on Alaska's northwest coast.Federal wildlife researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey on their way to a walrus tagging project spotted 100 to 200 of the animals' carcasses near Icy Cape about 140 miles southwest of Barrow.They report the dead walruses appeared to be mostly new calves or yearlings. However, neither the age of the dead animals nor the cause of death is known, said Bruce Woods, spokesman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service."It's just too early to say until we can get someone on the ground," Woods said.About 3,500 walruses were reported last week at the Icy Cape haulout site, where walruses rest from feeding forays.Young animals can be crushed in stampedes when a herd is startled by a polar bear, human hunters or even a low-flying airplane.This is the second time in three years that walruses have congregated in large numbers on the Alaska shore.Walrus cannot swim indefinitely and historically have used sea ice as a platform for diving in the Bering and Chukchi seas for clams and other food on the ocean floor.In recent years, however, sea ice has receded far beyond the outer continental shelf, forcing walruses to choose between riding the ice over waters too deep to reach clams or onto shore.Environmental groups calling for measures to slow greenhouse gas emissions say walruses gathering in herds on shore are evidence that global warming is alerting the Arctic environment and forcing major changes in wildlife behavior.The National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado announced Thursday that Arctic sea ice for 2009 shrunk to its third lowest level since satellite measurements began in 1979. The record low was set in 2007 and ice last year melted to the second lowest level on record.Walruses for years came ashore intermittently in Alaska during their fall southward migration but not so early and not in such numbers.Herds were in the tens of thousands at some locations on the Russian side of the Chukchi Sea. Russian biologists in 2007 reported 3,000 to 4,000 walruses died out of a population of perhaps 200,000, mostly young animals crushed in stampedes.

Thousands of walrus haul out onshore as Arctic ice retreats

Thousands of walruses are congregating on Alaska's northwest coast, a sign that their Arctic sea ice environment has been altered by climate change. Chad Jay, a U.S. Geological Survey walrus researcher, said Wednesday that about 3,500 walruses were near Icy Cape on the Chukchi Sea, some 140 miles southwest of Barrow.Animals the agency tagged with satellite transmitters also were detected on shore at Cape Lisburne about 150 miles farther down the coast.Walruses for years came ashore intermittently during their fall southward migration but not so early and not in such numbers."This is actually all new," Jay said. "They did this in 2007, and it's a result of the sea ice retreating off the continental shelf."Federal managers and researchers say walruses hauling out on shore could lead to deadly stampedes and too much pressure on prey within swimming range. Projections of continued sea ice loss mean the phenomenon likely is not going away."It's more of the same," Jay said. "What we've been seeing over the past few years with reduced sea ice conditions, we might be seeing this more and more often, and it's probably not good for the walruses," he said.Unlike many seals, walruses cannot swim indefinitely and must rest periodically between feeding forays. They rely on sea ice as a platform for foraging for clams in the shallow waters of the outer continental shelf. They can dive up to 630 feet for clams and other sea floor creatures but mostly feed in waters of less than 330 feet, Jay said. Beyond the continental shelf, water can reach depths of 10,000 feet or more.An estimated 6,000 or more walruses congregated on Alaska's shore in the fall of 2007, taking scientists by surprise.Herds were in the tens of thousands at some locations on the Russian side of the Chukchi Sea, with an estimated 40,000 animals at Point Shmidt. Russian biologists reported 3,000 to 4,000 walruses out of a population of perhaps 200,000 died, mostly young animals crushed in stampedes.Alaska herds did not experience that sort of mortality but scientists acknowledge a concern when the marine mammals are concentrated on a rocky shore rather than hundreds of miles of sea ice edge."They may have a much higher predation pressure on those nearshore areas when they're using those land haulouts than when they're using sea ice," Jay said.The Center for Biological Diversity has petitioned to list the Pacific walrus as an endangered or threatened because of habitat loss due to warming. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Tuesday agreed to begin a detailed status review. A 60-day public comment period will precede an agency listing decision by October 2010. A final decision would be made by the Interior secretary by October 2011.The agency is working with the Federal Aviation Administration to warn away pilots, who can cause stampedes, said walrus researcher Joel Garlich-Miller. So can polar bears or human hunters. There is no legal mechanism to keep hunters away, he said, but people have been letting the animals rest.USGS researchers plan to head to the Chukchi coast next week to place satellite tags on up to 30 animals so their foraging habits can be studied, Jay said.The 2007 herds prompted researchers to gear up for studies of the animals' new habits last year. However, remnant ice floating apart from the main pack ice kept walruses off shore, Jay said. Their reappearance put the research plans into motion."We're trying to get more information on how the walruses are responding to the loss of sea ice over the continental shelf, where do they go when they do come to shore like this, how far offshore are they foraging," he said.On land, walruses have to swim out and return rather than diving vertically. That could lead to nutritional stress."We suspect that it's going to cost them more energy to do that than if they were able to stay on the sea ice," he said.Jay has not heard reports of walrus congregating on Russian shores. One animal tagged on the U.S. side has hauled out there and herds likely are gathering, he said.

Polar Bear And Walrus Populations In Trouble, Stock Assessment Report Suggests

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has released reports documenting the status of polar bears and Pacific walrus in Alaska. The reports confirm that polar bears in Alaska are declining and that Pacific walrus are under threat. Both species are imperiled due to the loss of their sea-ice habitat due to global warming, oil and gas development, and unsustainable harvest.

“Polar bears and walrus are under severe threat, and unless we act rapidly to reduce greenhouse pollution and protect their habitat from oil development, we stand to lose both of these icons of the Arctic,” said Brendan Cumming, oceans program director at the Center for Biological Diversity.
The reports, issued pursuant to the Marine Mammal Protection Act, summarize information on population abundance and trends of polar bears and walrus, threats to the species, and include calculations of human-caused mortality and whether that mortality is sustainable.
There are two polar bear populations in Alaska: a Southern Beaufort Sea stock, which is shared with Canada, and a Chukchi/Bering Sea stock which is shared with Russia. The Pacific walrus occurs in the Bering and Chukchi seas and is shared with Russia.
For the Southern Beaufort Sea polar bear stock, the Fish and Wildlife Service estimated a minimum population of 1,397 bears and an annual human-caused mortality of 54 animals, well above the calculated sustainable rate of 22 animals per year. The stock assessment states that “the Southern Beaufort Sea population is now declining.”
For the Chukchi/Bering Sea polar bear stock, the Service estimated a minimum population of 2,000 bears and an annual human-caused mortality of 37 animals from Alaska and between 150-250 bears killed per year in Russia. The calculated sustainable rate of harvest is 30 animals per year. The stock assessment states that “the population is believed to be declining” and is “reduced based on harvest levels that were demonstrated to be unsustainable.”
For the Pacific walrus, the Service estimated a minimum population of 15,164 animals and an annual human-caused mortality of between 4,963 and 5,460 animals. The calculated sustainable rate of harvest is 607 animals per year.
Of the three population estimates, only the estimate for the well-studied Beaufort Sea polar bears is considered reliable. The Chukchi/Bering Sea polar bear population is based on incomplete data and could be an overestimate, while the walrus estimate is an underestimate as it only represents surveys in about half of the walrus habitat and does not account for walrus not counted because they were in the water rather than hauled out on ice.
“These reports publicly confirm what scientists have known for several years: Polar bear and walrus populations in Alaska are in trouble,” added Cummings. “And even if the population numbers are not precise, we know that without their sea-ice habitat they are likely doomed.”
The Marine Mammal Protection Act requires that the secretary of the interior and the secretary of commerce prepare stock assessments for marine mammals. The assessments are meant to be used as the basis for management decisions such as permitting the killing or harassment of the animals from commercial fisheries, oil and gas exploration, boating and shipping, and military exercises.
To ensure that decision-makers have the most accurate information, stock assessments are supposed to be revised every year for endangered marine mammals and every three years for other species. While the National Marine Fisheries Service – the agency responsible for whales, dolphins, and seals – has largely complied with this requirement, the Fish and Wildlife Service, responsible for polar bears, walrus, sea otters, and manatees, had completely ignored it.
In 2007 the Center sued the Wildlife Service and obtained a court order requiring the release of updated reports. Stock assessments for the Florida manatee were released last week, while sea otter reports were issued last year.
The polar bear is currently listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act as a result of a petition and litigation by the Center for Biological Diversity. The Fish and Wildlife Service is under court order to make a finding on the Center’s petition to protect the Pacific walrus under the Endangered Species Act by September 10, 2009.
A copy of the stock assessments released June 18 can be found at http://alaska.fws.gov/fisheries/mmm/reports.htm
Adapted from materials provided by Center for Biological Diversity.

Otter-like fossil reveals early seal evolution

Scientists say they've found a "missing link" in the early evolution of seals and walruses — the skeleton of a web-footed, otter-like creature that was evolving away from a life on land.Those feet and other anatomical features show an early step on the way to developing flippers and other adaptations for a life in the sea, the scientists said.One expert called it "a fantastic discovery" that fills a crucial gap in the fossil record.The 23 million-year-old creature was not a direct ancestor of today's seals, sea lions and walruses, a group known collectively as pinnipeds. It's from a different branch. But it does show what an early direct ancestor looked like, said researcher Natalia Rybczynski.The fossil was found on Devon Island in the Canadian Arctic, bolstering the notion that the far north was an early center of pinniped evolution, she said.Rybczynski, a researcher at the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa, and colleagues from the United States report the find in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature.They named the creature Puijila darwini ("pew-YEE-lah dar-WIN-eye"). That combines an Inuit word for "young sea mammal," often a seal, with an homage to Charles Darwin. The famed naturalist had written that a land animal "by occasionally hunting for food in shallow water, then in streams or lakes, might at last be converted into an animal so thoroughly aquatic as to brave the open ocean."Scientists already knew that pinnipeds evolved from land animals. But the earliest known fossil from that group already had flippers. So Puijila shows an earlier stage of evolution, the researchers said.Puijila measured about three feet from its snout to the tip of its long tail. It resembled a river otter but had a short snout, large eyes and a thinner tail, Rybczynski said. It could hunt on land or in water, where it was apparently "a pretty darned good swimmer," she said.The fossil was discovered in sediments of what had been a lake when the Arctic was much warmer, showing Puijila was at home in fresh water as well as on land. Besides eating fish, it probably ate rodents and ducks with dog-like teeth set in powerful jaws, Rybczynski said.Annalisa Berta, a biology professor at San Diego State University who wasn't involved in the work, welcomed the find."This is a fantastic discovery that fills a critical evolutionary gap (from) when terrestrial carnivores traded limbs for fins and moved from land to sea," she wrote in an e-mail.Apart from the poorly preserved ribs, researchers recovered about 65 percent of the skeleton. Berta said this completeness will help scientists sort out the order in which key pinniped features appeared.Puijila's fossilized remains were found in 2007 and 2008. Its Arctic location was "completely unexpected" because most scientists believed pinnipeds evolved on the west coast of North America, Rybczynski said. The discovery lends some credence to a hypothesis that the Arctic was an early center for these mammals' evolution, she said.Not all experts agreed. Maybe Puijila arrived in the Arctic from elsewhere, finding an area where its competitors could not survive, said Tom Demere, curator of paleontology at the San Diego Natural History Museum.He noted that an older fossil that the study authors consider a pinniped had been discovered in Mongolia. (That fossil included only head and jaw remnants and so its body features are not known).So the new evidence for Arctic evolution is "inconclusive at best," he said.But Demere, who didn't participate in the Nature paper, called the discovery exciting because it provides direct evidence for what early pinnipeds in the land-to-water transition looked like.

New batch of walruses gets tagged

Ten walruses in Greenland have been fitted with satellite tags in a new bid to confirm whether the blubbery beasts spend their summers in Canada. Last year, the same team tagged eight walruses in west Greenland; however, all but one of the sat-tags failed. The lone working device, fitted to a female walrus, revealed that she had journeyed to Baffin Island, Canada. The team now awaits the results of the latest study to see if this spot really is the walruses' secret summer hideout. Until now, scientists have not known exactly where west Greenland's walruses migrate - come summer, the enormous animals simply vanish off the radar. How to tag a two-tonne walrus - footage from the 2007 expeditionLike in 2007, the tagging team faced tough conditions when they set sail on the Arctic sea in late April. Rune Dietz, who led this year's expedition, said: "There were severe ice conditions. "At one point, there were discussions as to whether the boat would be able to get out of Sisimiut (a town in west Greenland) at all." The team managed to tag 10 walruses, using small, matchbox-sized satellite tags, which relay coordinates to the researchers via the Argos satellite system. The devices were attached remotely using a modified harpoon and a CO2-powered gun - because the walruses have such thick skin, they feel little when the devices are secured, say the researchers. Walrus on the move The biologist, who is based at the Danish Natural Environmental Research Institute, said: "Out of the 10 tags we got on, one never gave us a signal, another stopped working after a couple of days, but the rest are signalling well, which is a great start. "At the moment they are showing that most of the walruses have not yet left west Greenland." Conditions were tough out in the Davis Strait However, one tag has relayed that a pregnant female has already travelled to Canada, swimming through extremely thick ice, Dr Dietz added. The team is hoping to combine satellite data from the various walrus tagging studies to finally uncover the mystery of where west Greenland's walruses migrate. Finding out more about the tusked beasts' movements could help the scientists discern the impacts of hunting, oil exploration and climate change on the animals. The tagging study was run by the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources, in cooperation with the Danish National Environmental Research Institute and the Technical University of Denmark.

Melting Ice Displaces Walruses In The Russian Arctic

Some 40,000 walruses have appeared on the Russian Arctic coast, a phenomenon that scientists believe is a result of global warming melting Arctic sea ice।

According to WWF, this is the largest walrus haul out — areas where walruses rest when they are out of the water — registered in the Russian Arctic.
The area is currently being protected by the local community through the WWF-supported Russian Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North. But more permanent protection, like a nature reserve, is needed to prevent walrus poaching and other threats to these large marine mammals.
“Because of climate change, ice is disappearing from the Chukchi and East Siberian seas during the summer months,” says Viktor Nikiforov, Director of WWF-Russia’s Regional Programmes.
“This means that in the coming years new haul outs will appear along the Chukotka Arctic coast.”
Walruses need thick sea ice to support their weight and the shallow waters of the coastal zone to feed. Unlike seals, they cannot swim indefinitely and must pause after foraging. As the warming climate in the Arctic reduces the thickness and expanse of the ice, it also reduces the walrus’ habitat.
“A nature reserve must be created to protect them,” urges Nikiforov. “Our common goal is to help walruses survive during this difficult time.”
Evidence points to a clear trend towards an overall warming in the Arctic. As a result, the sea ice thickness has been reduced by 40 percent in the last 30 years. Some models suggest that by 2080, or possibly earlier, arctic sea ice will completely disappear during the summer months.
There are two sub-species of the species: the Pacific walrus (Odobenus rosmarus divergens), found around Alaska and northeast Russia; and the Atlantic walrus (Odobenus rosmarus rosmarus), found in the Canadian Arctic, in the waters of Greenland, Svalbard and the western portion of the Russian Arctic.
Adapted from materials provided by World Wildlife Fund.

Walruses abandon ice for Alaska shore

Thousands of walruses since late summer have congregated in haulouts on Alaska's northwest shore, a phenomenon likely connected to record low Arctic sea ice. Joel Garlich-Miller, a walrus expert with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services in Anchorage, said Wednesday animals began showing up on shore in late July, a month earlier than usual. By August, several thousand animals — far more than normal — were bunched up in haulouts in a stretch of coastline from Barrow, America's northernmost community, to Cape Lisburne, about 300 miles to the southwest on the Chukchi Sea."It's raising a bunch of conservation issues for us," Garlich-Miller said.The agency's immediate concern is that groups of walruses congregated on land are susceptible to additional human contact, whether a low-flying airplane or a hunter's boat, that could can panic the group, setting off a deadly stampede to the water.But having animals concentrated on land instead of the vast expanse of the Arctic ice pack also raises stress issues, said Chad Jay, a U.S. Geological Survey biologist.Walruses on shore may be forced to swim farther to forage, expending more energy. Researchers would expect increased mortality to calves, Jay said, if they try to stay with their mothers during feeding rather than resting on a platform of sea ice over feeding grounds."You can imagine access to traditional foraging areas is diminished," Garlich-Miller said. "That is cause for concern."The Fish and Wildlife Service has no evidence that the walruses have suffered nutritional stress or disease, said Bruce Woods, an agency spokesman.The agency has received anecdotal information from hunters that some animals appear thin but not emaciated or endangered, Garlich-Miller said. As has happened in the last few years, the agency has receive reports of orphan calves.Walruses also have been spotted at Kaktovik 325 miles southeast of Barrow on the Beaufort Sea, far east of their normal range, Garlich-Miller said.The agency has received assistance in monitoring walruses on shore from flights done on behalf of Shell Oil, which is monitoring walrus activity in the Chukchi Sea in advance of possible offshore petroleum exploration. At the agency's request, the company added a coastal component to its flights, Garlich-Miller said.Visual counting of walrus is notoriously difficult because the animals congregate so close together on shore. The agency expects a more accurate count after analyzing digital photographs.A USGS research project to study how walruses would react to diminished sea ice tagged nine animals with satellite radio transmitters near the end of June off Barrow, Jay said."We wanted to track walruses to determine what they do when the sea ice retreated over the deep Arctic Basin," he said.The tagged animals stayed near shore using small remnants of sea ice and did not follow the ice edge north, he said. When those small floes finally disappeared, he said, the walruses were swimming south."Apparently they are now hauled out on the shores of Alaska," he said.The Alaska haulouts are following a trend of animals on the other side of the Chukchi Sea, said Jay and Garlich-Miller. Russian research observers have seen dramatic increases of animals on shore, sometimes numbering in the tens of thousands and now including females with young."Usually they stay with the sea ice," Jay said. Walruses breed in the Bering Sea in the winter time. Calves are born in late April or early May. In spring, when ice retreats, males generally remain in the Bering Sea. But females migrate north with their pups through the Bering Strait and traditionally stay with the ice edge in the Chukchi Sea. Walruses feed on clams, snails and other bottom creatures. As the ice edge moves over the relatively shallow continental shelf, females can nurse their calves on ice and reach productive feeding areas as the ice edge moves north. However, extreme ice retreats in recent years have put the ice edge far north of the continental shelf, over water that's too deep for the females to feed. A maximum dive for a walrus to scour the sea bottom is about 630 feet and the Arctic Basin can be several thousand feet deep or more. The National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado at Boulder reported that Arctic sea ice during the 2007 melt season plummeted to the lowest levels since satellite measurements began in 1979. "This year that platform melted away from underneath them pretty quickly," Garlich-Miller said. September is the end of the melt season. The average sea ice extent for September this year was 1.65 million square miles, the lowest September on record, shattering the previous record for the month, set in 2005, by 23 percent. The September rate of sea ice decline since 1979 is now about 10 percent per decade, or 28,000 square miles per year, according to the center. The center attributes the shrunken ice pack to effects of greenhouse warming plus unusual atmospheric patterns. The Fish and Wildlife Service is working with the Federal Aviation Administration and Alaska coastal communities near the haulouts to minimize human contact with the animals, Garlich-Miller said. It may take until spring to determine if there are animal deaths associated with the Alaska haulouts, Garlich-Miller said. Walruses are expected to remain on shore until they move south as the Chukchi Sea freezes in November. Information from flights will be limited by snow cover and the Alaska winter darkness. "We may have to follow up this next spring to see what the final chapter of this was," Garlich-Miller said.

Alaska rehab facility takes in Walrus

A young walrus is exploring new surroundings at the Alaska SeaLife Center after first appearing without its mother about a month ago near the Red Dog Mine port facility south of Kivalina. The walrus, born last year and weighing over 400 pounds, seemed exhausted and lethargic, hauling out on the backs of zinc ships as they were loaded. It eluded several attempts to capture it, until last Thursday.The walrus, named "Chukchi," was flown to Kotzebue and Anchorage on chartered cargo planes, and then on to Seward where it is getting acclimated in the center's rehabilitation facility.Visitors to the center can observe Chukchi on a monitor near the touch pool, via a video camera linked to its quarantined area.When the walrus was first spotted near the Red Dog Mine port facility, there was no sign of its mother. Walrus can remain dependent on their mothers for more than two years. Workers decided to call the SeaLife Center's stranding response staff for assistance."U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologists tell us that harvested animals of this age normally have only their mother's milk for stomach contents," said Tim Lebling, stranding coordinator at the Alaska SeaLife Center.After taking note of the walrus's size and budding tusks, Lebling determined it was born last year. While the animal did not need to be rescued, center staff decided the young walrus needed to be captured and nursed back to optimum health.Walrus calves are born mostly in late April or early May during the spring migration, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game Web site. At birth, they can weigh 100 to 160 pounds. Calves are dependent upon their mothers for at least 18 months and occasionally for as long as 2 1/2 years.

Headless walruses alarm Alaska officials

An unusually high number of walrus carcasses missing their heads and ivory tusks have washed up on beaches this summer, alarming wildlife officials. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service doesn't know whether the dozens of walrus carcasses counted along a 40-mile stretch in Norton Sound are part of a crime or whether sloppy hunters are responsible.Pacific walruses are not considered endangered but can be hunted only by Alaska Natives, who are required to use a certain amount of the animal or face fines for being wasteful. The tusks are often carved or used in native arts and crafts."There is no evidence that subsistence hunting is causing a problem," said John Trent, lead biologist with the Fish and Wildlife walrus program. "I think most people do try very hard. ... They absolutely depend on these animals."Non-natives can harvest walrus tusks if they find a carcass, but they can't profit from them. Officials said cases of a non-native illegally killing a walrus is unusual.In late June and early July, 79 walrus carcasses — about twice as many as in any year in the past decade — were counted, said Steve Oberholtzer, a special agent in Anchorage."Every one of them had the head removed," he said, adding the ones that investigators got a close look at had been shot.Karl Erickson, a state trooper in Unalakleet, said the incidence of wasteful take has slowed in recent years but perhaps "is ramping back up."

Tags to reveal walrus migration

Scientists want to find out where walruses are migratingScientists are closer to solving the mystery of where walruses head to in the summer months after attaching satellite tags to eight of the beasts. Until now, the Arctic animals' migration route and destination have remained a mystery to researchers. A Danish-Greenlandic team had to spend five days off the west Greenland coast in harsh conditions to tag the mammals. They also hope the devices will shed light on how hunting, oil exploration and climate change affect walruses. The tags were deployed over a period of two days by the expedition's field leader Mikkel Villum Jensen. BBC NEWS - WALRUS WATCH Eight walruses tagged Location data fed to DenmarkBBC News to map positions Walrus Watch map Reporter's log "I think it went well and I'm very happy with eight tags," he told the BBC News website. "We lost two to the big blue shelf, which was a pity - if you have 10 tags in your pocket, you are aiming to get 10 in, but, in general, I'm happy." The Atlantic walruses of west Greenland are one of at least eight separate sub-populations of the animals. The creatures were scoped out from a 70-tonne trawler as it ploughed through the ice-covered waters of the Davis Strait, which lies between the west coast of Greenland and Baffin Island, Canada. 'A lot of ice' The conditions were a lot tougher than the team expected. Mr Villum Jensen said: "It took five days to finally get to them - there was a lot of ice making it difficult for us to navigate to their habitat. Tagging walruses in GreenlandIn pictures"The icy conditions also made it difficult to stealth-in on the animals using the boat, and it was very cold and extremely windy at times, too." The walruses were eventually located in an area called the Hellefiske Bank, where the creatures dive for clams and other molluscs about 70m (230ft) down. Many of the tusked animals could be seen resting on the ice, often in groups of two or three. Two different types of tags - one about the size of an ice hockey puck, the other about the size of a cigarette lighter - were used on the walruses. They were deployed from a few metres away using a crossbow, a carbon dioxide (CO2)-powered gun, and a harpoon that had been crafted by the boat's skipper. "Most of the animals we tagged were between six and 10 years of age, but we tagged a couple that were 20 years-plus. We tagged an even amount of males and females," Mr Villum Jensen explained. Walrus watch The tags will now begin relaying the walruses' co-ordinates via the Argos satellite system. The BBC News website will be following the creatures' movements on its "Walrus Watch" map. "Previously these tags have lasted between two and three months," said Mr Villum Jensen. "But I have modified the anchor, so they could hopefully stay on for longer than that." The team is hopeful the tags will last longer than three months Erik Born, from the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources, and Rune Dietz, from the Danish National Environmental Research Institute (Neri), will study the data to find out more about the animals' movements. The Technical University of Denmark is also a collaborator on the project. Mr Villum Jensen said: "The tags will tell us about the walruses' migration; we are not certain where this sub-population in west Greenland spends the summer. "And they will tell us about their haul-out patterns, meaning how long they spend on ice or land compared to their time in water." The scientists will also use the tags to find out whether oil exploration is altering the creatures' movements, and they will also help to establish whether the number of walruses being hunted in west Greenland at present is sustainable. In the longer term, the tagging information could also help to assess how climate change is affecting these Arctic animals. Mr Villum Jensen observed: "Tags are a godsend to marine mammal research - there is no other way you can find out about where these animals are going."