What Are the Natural Predators of Walruses? A Look at the Animals That Prey on Walruses
The walrus is essentially an elephant of the sea. It has a massive body, thick and heavily wrinkled skin, sparse bristles, small eyes, and poor eyesight, and it sports two long tusks. Unlike the big-headed, floppy-eared elephants on land with their long trunks and sturdy limbs, the walrus's limbs have degenerated into flippers to adapt to life in the water, so it cannot walk on land the way an elephant does. Now let's take a look at what the walrus's natural predators are!
Great White Shark
The great white shark is the largest carnivorous fish, reaching up to 6.5 m in length and weighing 3200 kg. Its tail is crescent-shaped, and its teeth are large, triangular, and serrated along the edges, with teeth up to 10 cm long. It is a large, aggressive shark. It most likes to prey on fish, sea turtles, seabirds, sea lions, and similarly sized walruses and seals, and even dying giant baleen whales. Occasionally it also eats dolphins, whale carcasses, and even other sharks, but beyond that they also swallow many other things, such as sea otters and dead fish floating on the surface of the sea.
Orca
The orca is a large toothed whale, measuring 8 to 10 m in length and weighing around 9 tonnes. Its head is slightly rounded, with an indistinct beak. Its dorsal fin is tall and upright, curving up to 1 m long, and its body is black and white. The two wing bones are widely separated. The temporal fossa is large. The lower jaw is relatively short. In each tooth row of the upper and lower jaws there are 10 to 12 conical teeth. Its mouth is slender, its teeth are sharp, and it has a fierce temperament. It is a carnivore, skilled at attacking prey, and is a natural predator of animals such as penguins and seals. Sometimes they also attack other cetaceans, and even the great white shark, making them worthy of the title overlord of the sea.
Polar Bear
The polar bear is a true carnivore within the bear family, with 98.5% of its diet being meat. It mainly preys on seals, especially ringed seals, as well as bearded seals, harp seals, and hooded seals. In addition, it also catches walruses, beluga whales, seabirds, fish, and small mammals, and sometimes it will also scavenge carrion. In summer they occasionally eat some berries or plant rhizomes, and at the transition from late spring to early summer they will come to coastal areas to take seaweed washed ashore to supplement the minerals and vitamins their bodies need.