Feeding Frenzy

This incredible close-up shows how walruses vacuum up their meals from the seafloor

January 13, 2017

This incredible close-up shows how walruses Hoover up their meals from off the seafloor.

Photo by Audun Rikardsen

Walruses harvest bivalves from the seafloor by sucking the animals out of their protective shells. The giant marine mammals were almost hunted to extinction a century ago. Their numbers have recovered thanks to legal protections, but the adverse effects of warming seas and ocean acidification on shellfish pose a new danger.