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Nature - Season 43 Episode 14 -
Walrus: Life on Thin Ice
Walrus: Life on Thin Ice
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04:48What a cute baby
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07:26But occasionally, one turns up alone, sometimes in the strangest of places
07:42Back in June of 2017, a couple of gold miners were working right off the coast of Nome
07:49And they were surprised to find a little baby walrus hiding in a box on the deck
07:54Such a cute little animal, about the size of a big fat dog
07:59And it didn't want to go anywhere, this mom was nowhere to be seen
08:02And they took a great video of this thing
08:04Look at that guy, that is not a happy little walrus
08:08He's just looking pretty sad, he's moving very slow
08:16He's just kind of rubbing his muzzle against the barrel
08:19And like, what's going on?
08:22Looking for some walrus milk, it looks like
08:24You can tell he's dehydrated
08:26See a little guy
08:29But they did the right thing
08:31The guys called the local authorities and transferred him down to the Sea Life Center in Seward, Alaska
08:36The Alaska Sea Life Center is the only place in the country to take in baby walruses
08:52Ten orphans have come through its doors since it opened in 1998
08:56And now, they have a new one
08:59This one-week-old baby was discovered alone on a beach in the far north of Alaska in 2024
09:15She's covered in scratches and puncture wounds
09:18Probably from rolling around on the rocky beach
09:22She's a snotty-nosed kid
09:30That's one way to get a sample
09:35I'm pretty confident this calf would not have made it
09:41She was clearly alone for a period of time
09:46She was already malnourished
09:47But the biggest sigh of relief I have was her being good about taking food from a bottle
09:58It makes a world of difference
10:00It's a critical time for this baby walrus
10:07Three of their previous orphans were so ill that they died
10:16For me, the big question is whether this orphans plight might be linked to changes in its arctic home
10:24Most of the world's walrus, some 250,000 of them, live in the frigid seas between Russia and Alaska
10:35Adults breed during the winter in areas of open water on the southern edge of the sea ice
10:41As the ice begins to melt in spring
10:45Females and their calves drift north on their ice flows
10:49Through the Bering Strait
10:50And into the Arctic Ocean
10:52The males stay south and head to land
10:57One of their favorite spots is Round Island
11:01Round Island is a remote, ethereal place
11:21I've always wanted to return to
11:22I was last here in 1985
11:29It's so amazing to be back here because these walruses stuck themselves in my mind
11:35Like a mind worm or something like that
11:37In my early 20s, I was working as a marine geologist
11:43Investigating the feeding grounds of walrus
11:46And it was here on Round Island where I had my first encounter
11:51It was love at first sight
11:56I wake up to a mysterious chiming
12:09Almost like church bells
12:25It feels like the walrus are welcoming me back to the island
12:30A lot of these walrus do seem to be having kind of a social time with their friends
12:46When two of them approach each other, they go right face to face
12:51And their little fuzzy muzzles come together
12:54Like kiss almost, hello
12:55Those whiskers are very tactile and very sensitive
13:00They're actually feeling each other's face
13:03And I guess saying, hey, you're a walrus too, I'm a walrus
13:07And who knows what other information they're transferring
13:10Walruses make their chimes by moving air around sacks in their neck
13:16Their air sacks also serve as life jackets
13:20Allowing them to take naps while at sea
13:23So it's funny, it looks like a bunch of pinkish brown corks
13:27Bobbing around a bunch of rocks
13:29They look like they're dead, but they just sleep
13:32And you watch them for 10 to 15 minutes
13:34And finally they'll put their head up and blow a little bit of air out
13:36And take a breath and go back to sleeping
13:46This is the oldest wildlife sanctuary in Alaska
13:53When hunting was banned here in 1960
13:56Round Island became a safe haven for walrus
13:59Seabirds flock here in their tens of thousands to nest on the cliff faces
14:11Check out this sweet little parakeet auklet
14:17At the south end of the island, stellar sea lands cavort in the waves
14:25Their bellies are full after feasting on herring
14:30They are so much more frisky than their walrus cousins
14:36They prefer to hang out on their own beach on the north side of the island
14:42It's an amazing spot
15:02We're on the edge of Round Island and looking out at this point
15:05And there's about 300 walruses hauled out on the beach sleeping together
15:10For the next couple of months
15:11These walruses will be doing what they're doing now
15:13Which is not a whole lot
15:15And that's what Round Island is
15:20A place for these males to chill
15:22Or rather warm up
15:23After a strenuous winter breeding season
15:26Their spring break and summer vacation
15:29All rolled into one
15:31This one right now actually is lying on his back
15:41With his tusks straight up in the air
15:43And his flippers out
15:44It's a pretty non-stressful life for the walrus around Round Island
15:48Wake up in the morning
15:50Go for a swim with a couple of your buddies
15:51Fall out on a rock
15:53Sleep some more
15:54Go back to the beach
15:55Sleep some more
15:56Life is good
15:58When I was here last
16:08Almost 40 years ago
16:10There were a lot more walruses on the beach
16:12It makes me wonder why numbers are down today
16:15During the spring and summer
16:23Two wardens live on Round Island
16:24And monitor walrus arrivals and departures
16:27You guys are here for three and a half months by yourselves
16:31Yeah
16:31What's life on the island like?
16:33This is my personal happy place
16:35I mean you get to be on this remote island
16:38Where there's not a lot of human activity
16:41Quiet
16:41You can just be with your thoughts
16:42And surrounded by nature
16:43It's really a sort of connection with a place
16:48And a natural place that it's easy to not have in our lives
16:52And that's pretty magical
16:54So you count the walruses every day?
16:57Yes
16:57So there's nine beaches that we count every day
17:01Either as going in person or using cameras that we keep on the island
17:05That actually take pictures of all the haul outs
17:07Over winter, Round Island is locked in by sea ice
17:13But it quickly opens up to visitors after the spring thaw
17:19We usually see the arrival of walruses here
17:26Anything between starting as early as February or March
17:29We start seeing our peak numbers
17:31Like towards the end of July
17:32Through potentially September
17:34And what's a big count for you?
17:37Most years we'll have a bunch of days over a thousand
17:40And a few days that are two or three thousand
17:43Watching walruses move all at once
17:49Makes me think of them more like a single entity
17:51One day they're here
17:56And the next they're gone
17:59Walrus come and go from Round Island every few days
18:04Sometimes to escape heavy surf
18:06To feast on clams
18:08And sometimes to visit a thermal spa on the nearby mainland
18:13The black sand here absorbs energy from the sun
18:24And heats up as the day goes on
18:26Just what's needed after a cold dip
18:29The tightly packed huddle keeps them all warm
18:43But newcomers aren't always welcome
18:46The strange lumps around big males' necks
18:54Helps protect them from tuskings by rival males
18:57They're called bosses and are a sign of maturity
19:00Like a lion's mane
19:01The older the walrus
19:06The bossier it gets
19:07Those bosses
19:12The lady walruses think that they're sexy
19:14I've heard it's good eating
19:17Really?
19:18It's like gristle
19:19It's like crackling
19:20Like pig skin
19:22One thing our position here on the island all summer
19:27Has allowed us to observe
19:29Is the way sounds can cause disturbance
19:32When you're sitting up there counting
19:35And you hear a commercial jet go over
19:37You can see sometimes it will cause a stampede or disturbance
19:40They have really poor eyesight so they rely heavily on what the rest of the herd is doing
19:53Sounds, airplanes, gunshots, boats, bears, foxes
20:00There's a lot of little things
20:02Even if it's nothing, a rock falling
20:04It can cause thousands of walruses to flee to the water
20:08And it's the older animals and the younger ones that get trampled and killed or injured
20:14Baby walrus avoid being crushed by living on the sea ice with their moms
20:21This one ended up on a beach
20:32Separated from its mother
20:34After a few days rehab at the Alaska Sea Life Center
20:41Little Miss Walrus, as she's being called
20:43Seems to be doing well
20:45Three, two, one
20:47They do a sneaky x-ray while she feeds
20:52Three, two, one
20:54Fortunately, there's no broken bones
20:58The most challenging part of this cab's rehabilitation is just the unknown
21:06These are very young, very sensitive animals
21:09And we don't know at any point could she get sick for a reason
21:13Good job, you're doing so quick
21:15Well, you get to have fun if you want to have fun
21:18Like most babies, Little Miss Walrus should enjoy a bath
21:25All she could do at that moment in time was just put her head in
21:33Because she was just so tired
21:35But the fact that we're able to introduce her to water
21:38And the fact that she took to it right away
21:41Just seeing her really explore and really love that water
21:45Was really heartwarming
21:46Oh, thank you
21:50Baby walrus need round-the-clock care
21:55And there's no shortage of volunteers flying in to help
21:57We are a lot of moms
22:01She has about 10 or 12 different moms
22:04It's also just giving her the kind of social experience
22:11We are actually sitting with her
22:13And getting her that close contact that she would need
22:16We can tell already she's a fighter
22:22And that's what you need when you have an animal that you're rescuing
22:26And rehabilitating is they've got to put in some of the effort themselves too
22:30And we're giving her everything that we can
22:33And she's actually responding to it
22:34And that's amazing
22:35Little Miss Walrus has become highly dependent on her surrogate moms
22:43She can never be released back into the wild
22:46She would not survive
22:48Instead, she will be moved to a much larger sea life center
22:55Where hopefully, she'll make friends with other walruses
22:58Dozer is a sight to behold
23:10A 3,500 pound adult male in his prime
23:13All right
23:16He was born at SeaWorld San Diego
23:18And is now 31 years old
23:20We just celebrated his birthday
23:22With tons of clams
23:23And a large frozen ice cake
23:26Do you want to give him a fish?
23:27Yeah, hell yeah
23:28All right
23:29There you go
23:30All right, Dozer
23:31Super easy
23:32I know, don't take my job, okay?
23:38His breath isn't bad, actually
23:40I thought he had awful breath
23:41Their breath is not too bad
23:43It's the other end thing, you know
23:45Dozer has an impressive appetite
23:51And like all walrus
23:52And like all walrus
23:52Is a virtuoso vocalist
23:54There we go
24:00Wow, that whistle is great
24:07It's amazing, isn't it?
24:08It's only when you're this close
24:14To a fully grown walrus
24:16That you can really appreciate
24:17How big, weird, and wonderful
24:19These animals truly are
24:21Bulbous eyes
24:25Which allow them to see behind their head
24:26Giant saber-toothed tusks
24:29That can grow three feet long
24:31And that great mustache
24:33Packed with sensitive whiskers
24:36The Vibrissi
24:37They're using those whiskers
24:40To really comb the floor
24:41Find where their food is
24:43They are very helpful tools
24:45They can move them all independently
24:47Just like 700 fingers
24:49Right on the front of your face
24:50So if you ever turn out
24:51The lights in your home
24:51And you're just feeling around
24:53He's definitely good at doing that
24:54Wow, amazing
24:55How much are you feeding him a day right now?
24:57Right now, about 125 pounds a day
24:59That's a pretty healthy meal
25:01Oh boy
25:03Walrus will never go hungry here
25:09But in the wild
25:11It's a different story
25:13So you guys all found your seatbelts?
25:21Alright, with that, we'll be off
25:23Wow, what a fabulous day to fly, man
25:31This is gorgeous
25:32Warmer summers may be making it harder
25:37For walrus to find enough food
25:39I'm heading to a beach
25:41To dig deeper into their diet
25:42You know what a beautiful spot this is
25:45It's so glassy out here
25:47It really is, today
25:49It's a perfect day for clams
25:53And who better to take me than Willie
25:56Who sports a mustache that any walrus would be proud of
25:59There's a seal or two down there now
26:01Wow, we're gonna see a whole bunch of sea otters
26:03In the kelp on the backside of this island here
26:05Alright, coming up on our left
26:07Oh yeah, look at the ball
26:08They're all waving at him
26:10Low tide has exposed a seafood platter on the beach
26:31And there are plenty of creatures looking to join the feast
26:34Looks like he's got a little eel there
26:41You little guy, isn't he?
26:45The tricky thing about finding clams is
26:55They burrow deep to hide from predators
26:57A lot of digging
27:01Not so many clams
27:03Grizzly bears love clams too
27:11They have the advantage of an incredible sense of smell
27:15Fortunately, this one is too busy clamming to care about me
27:22The fox is hoping for leftovers
27:31But the bear is not happy to share
27:34There we go
27:48Look at that guy
27:49This is what the bears are after
27:52Big, fat, juicy clams
27:54And when they get them
27:56What they do is they actually press down and crack the shells
27:58And lick the clam meat out of the shells
28:01And the bears go for clams during the low tides
28:07And the walrus is going after clams that are in water depths of anywhere from
28:11A few feet to maybe 200 feet deep at them
28:14And they go after them in a different way
28:15People used to think that walrus use their tusks to dig for clams
28:27Like bears use their claws
28:29But we now know they use their tongue like a piston
28:33To squirt a powerful jet of water
28:35That blasts away the mud to expose the buried clams
28:38And they use their super sensitive whiskers
28:44To find their tasty treasure
28:46So what the walrus does is it literally puts the clam in its lips
28:56And then sucks
28:59And the walrus sucks at least the siphon out of the clam
29:03And sometimes the entire clam body
29:04Then they'll spit the empty shell back at the bottom of the sea floor
29:07And go for another clam
29:09And some walruses, like the ones we saw on Round Island
29:12Can do something like 5,000 clams a day
29:15So if you do a quick thumbnail calculation
29:20There's around 250,000 walruses
29:23Eating 5,000 clams each
29:26That's well over a billion clams a day
29:29It's hard to believe there could be so much life in this desolate ice world
29:37But sea ice hides an incredible secret
29:44Living on the underside of the ice
29:55Are millions of microscopic organisms
29:58Sea ice algae
30:00They harness energy from the sun to grow
30:04Just like grass
30:05The animals that graze here are tiny, shrimp-like creatures called amphipods
30:24Predators then eat the amphipods
30:31And the food chain continues
30:33Ice algae is also essential to life on the sea floor
30:52When the ice melts
30:54The algae sinks to the bottom
30:56And feeds other animals
30:57Including clams
31:00That walrus depend on
31:01The Arctic is almost like going to a different planet
31:11The same with the Antarctic
31:12When you go to the polar regions
31:14You experience things you just never see when you're in mid-latitudes
31:17You see sun that doesn't set in the summer
31:20And doesn't rise in the winter
31:22And yet there's these areas of incredibly high biological productivity
31:28And the life that you see in the Arctic
31:31Whether it's walruses or seals or whales or seabirds or caribou or moose
31:36It's just like a remarkable place
31:39Arctic terns chase the midnight sun their whole lives
31:47They fly all the way from Antarctica to breed in Alaska
31:52Swapping one summer for another
31:55The life cycle of sea ice is also driven by the sun
32:06The cool thing about ice in the Arctic
32:10Is that it takes a while to form
32:12But it can go away very rapidly
32:14The freeze up is a gradual thing
32:17And the thaw can be very abrupt
32:18As the sea ice melts
32:23It leaves behind a growing expanse of dark water
32:27That absorbs more energy from the sun
32:29The warmer water melts the remaining ice even faster
32:33And as Arctic summers become warmer
32:36More and more sea ice is disappearing
32:39It's been called the Arctic Death Spiral
32:43It's kind of personal for me
32:50Because when I came up here in 1982
32:52There was a lot of sea ice
32:55And now 42 years later
32:58We've lost a third of the summer sea ice
33:00So just in my own personal memory of the Arctic
33:03We've lost about a million square miles of summer ice
33:06And you have to imagine
33:08That that's going to have some impact on the walrus
33:10When I was doing my research back in the 80s
33:24I was using side-scan sonar
33:26To locate walrus feeding grounds
33:28These are on the shallow continental shelf
33:32That bridges Russia and Alaska
33:33Here the rich seafloor contains vast clam beds
33:38A marine version of the Great Plains grasslands
33:41Walrus mothers and calves depend on the moving sea ice
33:48To carry them over this rich source of food
33:50But now as the sea ice melts farther north
33:54If they stay on their platforms
33:58They will be carried beyond the continental shelf
34:00Into deep water
34:03And deep trouble
34:05The walrus is not going to dive 8,000 feet down to eat clams
34:11It's just diving down 200 feet to eat clams
34:14So once the ice is off the edge of the continental shelf
34:16It's not a useful tool for the walrus
34:20To survive, they must abandon their ice flows
34:27And head for land
34:29And they do so in extraordinary numbers
34:34Over 100,000 walrus gather on a single beach
34:50In the far northeast of Russia
34:51It's the largest haul out in the world
34:55In the past, far fewer came here
35:13For many years, there were none at all
35:17Today, finding an empty spot on the beach
35:21Is a bit of a struggle
35:22Females and calves make up over half the haul out
35:36It's a far cry from their peaceful life on an ice flow
35:40The biggest danger to a calf
35:47Is being squashed by another walrus
35:49Staying close to mom
35:52Ideally on top of her
35:54Is the safest place to be
35:56But not everyone survives the crush
36:09A new orphan
36:14Another victim of a disappearing ice world
36:18Few orphans are as lucky as little miss walrus
36:35After a month at the Alaska Sea Life Center
36:38Things are looking up
36:40Her skin's looking much better
36:42Things are starting to heal
36:44And she has energy
36:46We now have what was a sick, weak animal
36:49Becoming very animated
36:51Since she arrived here
36:55Little Miss Walrus has put on 60 pounds
36:57She's ready to make a bigger splash
37:00She really likes to do this little
37:20Throw yourself into the pool backwards thing
37:23And the look on her face was just like
37:27Pure bliss
37:29This orphan's rehabilitation is nearing its end
37:38It's time to move her to a permanent home
37:41There's only four facilities in the United States
37:44That house walruses
37:46Ultimately we all came into a consensus
37:49That SeaWorld Orlando would be the best place for her at this time
37:52A big part of it is because they have the most walruses in human care
37:57Transporting a baby walrus all the way across the continent
38:04Is not an everyday occurrence
38:05What do you even pack?
38:08Plenty of milk for sure
38:09Before she leaves Alaska
38:14Little Miss Walrus is given a new name
38:17Uki is a shortened version of Ukiak
38:20Which means autumn
38:22In the language from the land she came from
38:26Which was the lands of the Inupia people
38:29It just so happens if you shorten that name a little bit into Uki
38:33That means survivor
38:35Alright, let's get a bottle ready
38:37Let's get her in the kettle
38:39Okay
38:41Yeah, do it
38:42She doesn't bleed
38:47Yum
38:48Yum
38:49Yum
38:50Okay
38:51Here you go
38:52Here you go
38:53Here you go
38:54Here you go
38:55Here you go
38:56Here you go
38:57Here you go
38:58Here you go
38:59Here you go
39:00Here you go
39:01Here you go
39:02Here you go
39:03Here you go
39:04Just like part of the family
39:05And so it's going to be definitely sad like coming into work tomorrow
39:08And she's not going to be here
39:10And I'm going to have to clean up all her toys
39:12Bye, I love you
39:13But it's for the best like this is the best outcome for her like she didn't have any chance on that beach and so we are giving her a second life
39:27At the trails little girl
39:30I know
39:31Goodbye sweet girl
39:32Wait a break
39:33And so it's gonna be definitely
39:35Good girl
39:36Even if you can't hear anything
39:37Act is about being threatened
39:38Like her
39:39You can't listen to her
39:40And, that's how it ends
39:41To be able to sing
39:42Hello you
39:43Go
39:56As more and more walruses haul out of land, they quickly exhaust nearby clam beds.
40:08And without ice floes to carry them, females have to spend more time swimming to new feeding
40:14grounds. If they lose weight, it could lead to lower birth rates, smaller calves and
40:22và có thể tất cả những người dân khả năng.
40:32Nói bất tăng ăn cũng có thể tăng lượng của những người dân khả năng trên thế giới.
40:46Nói tôi đến khi đến Alaska trong 1980,
40:48không chỉ là những người dân khả năng,
40:50I was also studying gray whales and the reason for that was that both of these animals are benthic feeders.
40:55They feed on the sediment in the sea floor.
41:05Gray whales are the only whales to feed this way.
41:09They aren't after clams, but amphipods and other crustaceans that live in the sea floor.
41:15They're eating by scooping up big sections of the sea floor,
41:21and they billow that sand and silt out of their mouths, leaving behind a straight big plume of muddy water,
41:27and in their mouths they retain the actual prey items.
41:38Gray whales migrate all the way from Mexico to feed in the same rich waters as walrus,
41:43making pit stops along the way, like here off Kodiak Island.
41:49This is a critical habitat area for gray whales,
41:52and before the unusual mortality events started in even the first couple of years,
41:57if we were standing here at this time of year it would be like smokestacks going off,
42:01just seeing all of the whales spouting.
42:03After a record low ice cover in the winter of 2017,
42:09large numbers of gray whales began stranding along their migratory route,
42:14including several on Kodiak Island.
42:16It's thought that around 5,000 whales died over four years,
42:21a population crash of 25%.
42:25It appears that many of them actually starved to death.
42:31We were able to do a blubber biopsy, basically,
42:33just to see the thickness of the blubber.
42:35It's really, really tough to cut through and is only about that thick.
42:38It should have been about like that.
42:40These are animals that would have been down to Baja
42:42and were headed back up to the Bering Sea and just couldn't make it.
42:45Yeah.
42:46Kind of like the long walk from food and they just ran out of food?
42:49They just ran out of gas and they couldn't quite make it.
42:52So insights from the gray whales will help us understand what's going on with the walrus instead?
42:56Quite possibly.
42:57All of the change that's occurring ultimately have a huge impact
43:01and cause ripples throughout the entire ocean.
43:04How far these ripples will spread is uncertain.
43:16But ripple they will.
43:18Less sea ice means less sea ice algae.
43:22And less sea ice algae means an ecosystem starved of vital food.
43:27The intricate connections of life put all the animals that live here at risk.
43:44Including our walrus.
43:52The most pessimistic climate models suggest that the Arctic
43:56could have a completely ice-free day as early as 2027.
44:13It's hard to imagine walrus surviving in an ice-free world.
44:21Unlike seals and sea lions who live both in cold and warm coastal waters,
44:25walrus only live in the Arctic.
44:36But if you go back in time far enough, walrus have a surprising history.
44:42I've come to visit an old friend.
44:47Tom's another big walrus fan.
44:49Hey, Kurt.
44:50How are you, man?
44:51There's one skull I wanted to show you, but I can't figure out where we put it.
44:56Oh, the embarrassment of riches problem.
44:59Although there's only one walrus species alive today, over the past 17 million years, there's been at least 20.
45:07The earliest had no tusks and looked more like a sea lion.
45:14Eventually, they took on a more recognizable form.
45:17I think I know where it is.
45:18Oh, that is amazing. Look at that.
45:23That's great.
45:25This is a skull of an adult Valenictus chulavistensis, about three and a half million years old, from here in the San Diego area.
45:34So what are we looking at? We've got the left tusk.
45:37And here's the orbit, so the eye's there.
45:39This big hole here is where the nerves would come out to feed that mustache.
45:44Oh, well, all the whiskers. Yeah.
45:47This is amazing because I can see some differences, but it really is a walrus with big tusks and clearly a suction feeder.
45:55Yeah, everything about it suggests that it's feeding like a modern walrus.
45:59So what's the difference?
46:00This animal that lived here in San Diego three and a half million years ago was not living in any way with ice.
46:07So this was an animal that was adapted to warm waters here.
46:11That's pretty cool. This lineage lived very happily in a world with no ice at all.
46:16Anything we think about modern walrus is we have to put it in the context that there was an animal very like it living in San Diego three and a half million years ago.
46:24And that changes the way I think about a walrus.
46:26Walrus in California? Who would have thought?
46:36Walrus evolved as warm water animals long before they made the Arctic their home.
46:44Perhaps within their DNA, they retain some sort of resilience to survive in an ice-free world.
46:51But I really hope it doesn't come to that.
46:56I've come to check out Uki's new home.
47:05There are 12 walruses in aquariums across the United States.
47:10And half of them live here at SeaWorld Orlando.
47:14These are going to be Uki's new buddies.
47:19Uki's been kept away from the other walruses since she arrived here four months ago.
47:33And she seems happy as a clam.
47:36Uki!
47:37She's recently out of quarantine.
47:43Which means she's finally accepting visitors.
47:46Hello.
47:48How's it going?
47:49Welcome.
47:51Very nice to see you.
47:52She's like an excitable little puppy that wants to follow me everywhere.
48:01Come on.
48:02Let's go guys.
48:03Let's go.
48:05Yeah, that is so cute.
48:10Come on Uki.
48:12There we go.
48:13Up and running.
48:14Ever since Uki was found alone on that beach, she's only ever had humans for company.
48:26So how is she going to react when she meets an adult walrus in the pool next door?
48:30Caboodle is a 21-year-old female.
48:39Her criss-cross tusks look a little menacing.
48:47Come on Uki.
48:49Good job.
48:50Come on.
48:52Come on Uki.
48:54Let's go around the corner.
48:55Come on.
49:00Oh yeah.
49:01Introducing Uki to Caboodle has to be a carefully choreographed operation.
49:14Uki is still a vulnerable toddler.
49:19Here we go.
49:24Oh yeah.
49:25You should go talk to Caboodle.
49:27You know you like me.
49:28Give my other bottle.
49:29Give Caboodle a talk.
49:31Yeah.
49:32Here we go.
49:35The best way to encourage walruses to bond?
49:37Over food of course.
49:39She gets bottles that include fish fillets that are ground up.
49:44And some clams that are ground up in the blender.
49:46Clam milkshake basically.
49:47Yeah it's good.
49:48Delicious.
49:49That's going to be your new surrogate mom there.
49:50Yeah.
49:51So that's what we're seeing mostly is lots of kisses and little, you know.
50:04It sounds like a kiss.
50:05Yeah.
50:06But just even being in here and listening to the other walruses is all part of the transition.
50:10Yeah.
50:11That's what I'm saying.
50:12Caboodle is the perfect mom for Uki.
50:13She's been a surrogate to a rescued orphan before.
50:29The bond between them will grow stronger by the day.
50:32But right now, Uki just wants to play.
50:36She clearly is having a good time.
50:37Yeah.
50:38I think we have a bond.
50:39Me and Uki.
50:40That's good.
50:41My little beautiful little walrus baby.
50:42Oh my god.
50:43How lovely is that?
50:44Okay.
50:45Uki will always feel at ease with people.
51:01Soon she'll be back with other walrus too.
51:05A life dependent on human care, but at least her future is secure.
51:23As sea ice diminishes more and more each year, the fate of walrus in the wild is increasingly
51:29uncertain.
51:34In the future, they will not just face a shortage of food and safe places to raise their pups.
51:53They will face a new threat.
52:00The more the Arctic Ocean opens up, the more this once pristine wilderness becomes vulnerable.
52:12Walrus evolved in an ice-free past.
52:18Let's hope they can survive in an ice-free future.
52:21ms.
52:22My hope they can survive in an ice-free future.
52:27There are some нормable inц like thebs in the wild.
52:31There are many of them out there too.
52:33There are many of them, but there's more sustainable in the wild.
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