Why does an elephant need a trunk and why does it need tusks? Without them, it’s like without hands: why do walruses need tusks? Why does a sea lion need fangs?

Walrus. 1. Large pinniped marine northern mammal with long fangs and a whiskered muzzle.
2. transfer A person who swims in open water in winter. Walrus section.

Why does a walrus need tusks?

The walrus is an amazing animal. Everything about it is special: weight, size, habitat. He is the only representative of the walrus family. Without ears, he hears perfectly, without legs, he moves perfectly. In addition, it has one more feature - long and powerful fangs, which are often called tusks (by analogy with the tusks of land animals).

There have been many speculations as to why the walrus has tusks. In some descriptions of these majestic animals, naturalists assigned the fangs the role of a means of transportation. If this were so, then females, whose fangs are much shorter, would be deprived of the ability to move. The assumption that walruses obtain food with their tusks was also refuted. Again, if this is the case, how do females and young males feed?

It has already been proven that in the search for food, walruses are helped not by fangs, but by whiskers. With them the animal “probes” the bottom, and with them it rolls the collected food into lumps. On the face of a walrus there can be more than half a thousand vibrissae, which wear out with age. Then, deprived of their sensitive “whiskers,” walruses use their fangs to dig up mollusks, worms and crustaceans. When a walrus has no need to “plow” the bottom in search of food (in captivity), its whiskers can reach a significantly greater length than those of their wild relatives. If in nature the length of the “whiskers” is about (or a little more) ten centimeters, then in the zoo it is up to thirty.

Today it is reliably known why a walrus needs tusks: they determine its “status”. The longer and more powerful they are, the larger the male’s harem. Fangs are powerful weapon, with the help of which walruses find out which of them is stronger. Fights for the favor of females do not always happen without bloodshed. Particularly dramatic are fights in which fighters of approximately equal strength take part. This does not prevent the use of “tusks” for other purposes. If necessary, a walrus can use its tusks to climb onto an ice floe. The growth of fangs is a long process. In some males it can last more than 15 years. Strong fangs help the walrus break ice, with their help he makes wormwood, but their main purpose is to show the opponent who is stronger.

Among walruses there are individuals that have a very rich diet. To the usual food - mollusks and crustaceans - they add birds and even seals. Here you no longer need to wonder why a walrus needs tusks. Everything is clear: in order to kill prey. The tusks of such walruses are sharper and thinner than those of ordinary males, and they, as a rule, live separately from others. We are not talking about those walruses who change their menu due to a temporary lack of food, but about real robbers who strike fear into other large animals, including seals. The latter, by the way, are trying to leave the habitat of such a cruel hunter.

Unfortunately, the authority of the walrus's tusks, so indisputable among its relatives, has no influence on humans. Walruses were mercilessly exterminated precisely because of their tusks. The more powerful they were, the greater danger their owner was subjected to. The sale of products made from walrus tusks has always been profitable business. Nowadays, walrus hunting is strictly regulated. In Russia, it is allowed only for the indigenous peoples of the north (Yakutia and Chukotka), who traditionally use the meat and fat of these animals, and some subspecies of walruses are generally listed in the Red Book of Russia.

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What are they bringing from Chukotka? The main souvenir is crafts made from walrus tusks. Figurines depicting Chukchi or wild animals will follow you everywhere, and sellers will persuade you to buy. But these are some of the most expensive souvenirs in the world: walrus ivory is worth like gold! And a relatively small figurine can cost thirty thousand rubles.

Bringing magnets is trivial, buying such expensive trinkets is unsporting. That’s why I brought a photo story about an Anadyr master who cuts tusks for days on end.

1 Small apartment in an old wooden house in the center of Anadyr. There is a workshop for making national souvenirs here. I have been to many “home” workshops, they always look about the same, no matter what they make.

2 Vladimir, the master himself, opened the door for me. Pokachalu seemed rather gloomy: he asked for a meeting business partner, the seller of these very souvenirs from shopping center, with whom we talked on the street. He immediately got down to business, showed me a few dominoes, without fully understanding what I wanted from him.

3 The sticks that look like pieces of wood lying under your feet are those very expensive tusks, whole and in parts. Raw materials are purchased in the eastern regions of the Chukotka District, everything is absolutely legal. But for some reason walruses are not openly called walruses, calling it impersonally - sea ​​beast. When I heard this for the first time in Chukotka, I didn’t immediately understand what kind of marine beast this was!

4 What do you think is the most expensive thing about a craft made from walrus tusk? The eminence of the master, the art of carving? No, the size of the fang itself! It accounts for up to seventy percent of the price. That is, everything else, it turns out, is not so important.

5 It was strange to see such expensive material practically lying on the shelves. In fact, it is being aged. It takes at least a year from the moment of extraction for the tusks to completely ossify and be ready for work. If you start too early, it will crumble.

6 Another material for Chukchi souvenirs is bear claws. They do not become independent crafts, but are actively used as stands.

7 Among other things, Vladimir showed a very rare thing - a walrus dick! The real one! I was surprised to learn that the walrus has this bone. And at the same time, the largest penis on the planet is also that of a walrus!

8 And here are the finished crafts: an engraving on a walrus tusk. This thing costs more than a thousand dollars.

9 The previous photo shows only a blank; this is the final version, decorated with national subjects, all made from the same walrus ivory. How do you like a souvenir for 60-70 thousand rubles? Ready to buy?

10 Meanwhile, in one of the workshop rooms there is very funny wallpaper.

11 Vladimir has been engaged in artistic carving for fifteen years, but this is far from his only profession. Today he is 62, and for most of his life he was a dancer in a local ensemble. Then he changed several professions, artists retire early. But I found myself precisely in this carving. He remembers that his mother told him about how, as a little boy, he easily cut out various figures and weapons from pieces of wood. He says that he does this business not so much for the sake of earning money, but for the sake of the process itself and his own pleasure. And also, to be alone with himself: Vladimir has a whole string of grandchildren of different ages at home.

12 The work of a carver is most similar, you would never guess, to the profession of a dentist! Incisors (as the instruments are called) are essentially low-power drills with different attachments.

13 A tusk blank measuring four centimeters in length is transformed in literally ten minutes of work in skillful hands...

14 ...into a lying bear! Or a Chukchi boy. Or a walrus, a mammoth, or any other figure.

15 This walrus didn't seem to be brushing his teeth well! Natural defects, caries and pulpitis come across. Such work has to be thrown away; it loses its value and becomes practically worthless.

16 On the mezzanine of the workshop lay a heap of elk antlers. It’s also material, but Vladimir said that it’s not interesting to work with it, except perhaps to use it as an auxiliary one.

17 At first, Vladimir reacted coolly to my visit, but then we started talking, he began to smile, joke, and talk about his life.

18 It’s surprising that I spent a week in Chukotka, three days in the city of Anadyr, but I found the master and filmed this story in the last half hour before my boat departed for the airport village. This little photo story, in fact, made this whole trip meaningful and complete. Because abandoned houses and colorful houses Soviet period that's wonderful...but living people and their stories are what I travel for.

November 24 is International Walrus Day. The purpose of this holiday is to attract public attention to the problems of restoring the population of these pinniped giants. Despite the fact that hunting for walruses today is strictly regulated, the issue of the extinction of these mammals still does not lose its urgency.

The walrus population has still not recovered from the big hunt that took place on them in late XIX- at the beginning of the twentieth centuries. And these Arctic animals were killed, among other things, for their huge fangs. They are much stronger than elephant tusks and are ideal for various crafts and souvenirs. These two teeth in mature individuals can reach a length of 1 m and weigh up to 5.4 kg.

On Walrus Day, AiF.ru talks about how these huge pinnipeds use their tusks.

Sword

Despite its impressive appearance, the walrus has many dangerous enemies - it has to defend itself from polar bears and killer whales. And relatives also often strive to sort things out by force when we're talking about about the struggle for territory or the favor of a female. For all these cases, the walrus has one weighty argument - its tusks. The fights in which these mammals take part sometimes even end in the death of one of the “duelists.”

Ice ax

Due to their large body mass, it can be quite difficult for walruses to get out of the water and onto the shore. To climb onto a slippery ice floe, a walrus can use its tusks - it clings to the edge of the ice hole and, holding on to it, pushes itself onto the shore. He also makes wormwood in the ice with his tusks so he can breathe while in the water.

Fork

The main food of walruses is mollusks and crustaceans, which they get on seabed. With the help of their sensitive whiskers - vibrissae, animals search for shells or worms, roll the collected food into lumps, and then suck it up. As walruses age, their vibrissae wear out, so walruses have to use their canines to dig up small organisms.

Attribute of power

The size of the tusks of a male walrus is of great importance for his relatives. Fangs determine his “status”: whoever has them larger is more important. As a rule, they are larger in older individuals, so their owners enjoy unquestioned authority among the flock. Males with the most powerful fangs usually boast the largest harem.

The main Chukchi souvenir is a product made from walrus tusk. But in order for a master bone carver to make a masterpiece, like in the title photo, a walrus tusk must be obtained. A post about the difficult and unattractive work of walrus tusk hunters.

Walrus tusks (like teeth) can be obtained in two ways: by hunting walrus (according to a quota) and in rookeries, from corpses. “Removing” fangs in both cases occurs using approximately the same technology. The difference lies in the smells.

2. After the walruses have left the rookery, the corpses of animals that died in a stampede or for some other reason remain on the shore.

As a rule, after the walruses leave the rookeries, residents of the surrounding villages clean up the corpses, dragging them with heavy equipment to special places, the so-called. feeding points for polar bears. But before the equipment arrives at the rookery, the tusks must be “removed” from the walruses.

I won’t describe what a dead walrus smells like, suffice it to say that after working on corpses, it will no longer be possible to rid clothes of the smell.

To work on removing fangs, you need: a knife, a sharpener, an ax and a hook with a rope. First, the muzzle is cut off (in the photo below it lies in the lower right corner). After which the periosteum of the fangs is cut out with an ax. This is a simple way to obtain tusks when the walrus has died in the so-called. "standing pose".

3.

4. It is much more difficult to obtain tusks when the walrus has buried its head in the sand or has fallen on its side.

5. In this case, a hook and rope are needed

6. To remove the fangs, in this case, you need to cut off the head. Cutting off the head is not a complicated process, but it is not physically simple either. Especially when you work alone. After the head has been separated, the process of removing the fangs is the same as in the first case.

7. But there is a simpler method, which, however, requires skill. Knocking out fangs with a club. This method is used when the walrus is thoroughly rotten. An experienced fang hunter knocks out a fang with one blow.

Not only tusks are harvested from walruses, but also the baculum, the bone penis. The work of extracting the baculum is even more troublesome and smelly than when extracting fangs (when they are caught in rookeries).

8. First you need to cut the skin and separate the baculum from the body.

9. After the baculum is removed, it is cleaned

10.

11. As a result, what remains is this bone, which is popularly referred to as “walrus dick.”

After extraction, the bones are boiled and given/sold to bone carving workshops.

11. A bone carver cuts a souvenir from a baculum.

Souvenirs are bought by tourists and the residents of Chukotka themselves, and a piece of the walrus continues to live on home shelves, shelves and sideboards.