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00:16Some creatures alive today almost feel like they belong to a prehistoric past.
00:23I once had a dream full of saber-toothed animals,
00:27saber-toothed cats, saber-toothed deer,
00:31saber-toothed salmon.
00:34And amongst those animals was a saber-toothed seal,
00:38the walrus.
00:42There's something about walrus.
00:46An animal we all recognize, yet one that few have ever seen.
00:52This is like a dream come true. It's unbelievable.
00:57Their lives revolve around sea ice,
01:00in ways we are only just beginning to understand.
01:03A lot of digging, not so many plans.
01:07As Arctic temperatures rise,
01:10I wonder how walruses will cope in an ice-free world.
01:14And how baby orphans like this one will survive.
01:18live?
01:18I
01:59You see anything Randy
02:03It might take a little while to bump into something
02:08Looking out across the last of the spring sea ice I feel the fragility of the arctic
02:15I'm a paleontologist and I oversee the world's largest natural history collection
02:22A constant reminder that 99% of all species that have ever lived are now extinct
02:30Now the arctic is warming so rapidly I'm increasingly worried about the future of an animal close to my heart
02:38The walrus
02:47I'm desperate to see a walrus but they can be very hard to find
02:54I've seen them before on land
02:56But never on sea ice
02:58Which turns into a giant jigsaw puzzle as it breaks up in spring
03:08Gotta watch out for those ice cubes
03:12Although Randy and his two buddies who are Alaskan natives don't seem too fazed
03:17I hear them from miles away
03:19Oh really?
03:20Yeah
03:20Does it go sound better than the smell?
03:24Yeah, you can hear them before you smell them
03:33I think I see a walrus
03:34I think I see a walrus
03:35Females
03:45I think there's like 50 of them up there
03:53Oh really?
03:54Yeah, look at that
03:55There they are
04:04All right
04:05Now we're talking
04:18One thing I love about walrus
04:20Is that they're very social animals
04:23Herds of females, some with calves
04:25Huddle tightly together on ice floes
04:30There's a pup over there
04:32You little pup next to the mom
04:40What a cute baby
04:46Pups are born on the ice in spring
04:48They rely on their mom's milk for up to two years
04:54During this time they share an unbreakable bond
05:19Check out these guys over there
05:21A bunch of juveniles hanging out together
05:24With much smaller tusks
05:33This is like a dream come true
05:35It's unbelievable
05:37Sitting out in the middle of the Bering Sea
05:40On a floating chunk of ice
05:44These walrus make all sorts of cool sounds
05:46And they're introducing this
05:47Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh
05:49Sound which is kind of like
05:51That get off my little tiny piece of ice sound
05:53I think
05:55There it is
06:01It's kind of funny though
06:02Because they love being really close together
06:05And pal on top of each other
06:06But they hate it too
06:07They're always pushing each other
06:08And coming around with each other
06:10Tusks and stuff like that
06:11Little brothers and sisters fighting in a weird way
06:14It's like there's all ice in the world
06:16And they're just fighting over a little piece of ice
06:23Little baby walruses are very vulnerable to all this jostling
06:27Some others protect them by spreading out on the ice flows
06:34These islands of ice are their sanctuaries
06:39It's kind of amazing paradise
06:41That the sea ice becomes a movable platform
06:44In which young families of walruses can move along
06:48And it's like a whole fleet of little boats moving north
06:52So if I was a walrus
06:54I could just lie down on this piece of ice
06:55And enjoy my life
06:57And I'd just be motoring north where I wanted to go
07:00Right below me on the bottom of the seafloor
07:02Plenty of clams
07:03Life is good
07:03And it's a beautiful day in the Bering Sea
07:07Sound
07:13To survive on the sea ice
07:16The walrus pups stay very close to their moms
07:27But occasionally
07:29One turns up alone
07:32Sometimes in the strangest of places
07:36Back in June of 2017
07:38A couple of gold miners were working right off the coast of Nome
07:41And they were surprised to find
07:43A little baby walrus hiding in a box on the deck
07:47Such a cute little animal
07:48About the size of a big fat dog
07:51And it didn't want to go anywhere
07:52This mom was nowhere to be seen
07:54They took a great video of this thing
07:56Look at that guy
07:58That is not a happy little walrus
08:05He's just looking pretty sad
08:07He's moving very slow
08:08He's just kind of rubbing his muzzle against a barrel
08:11And like what's going on
08:13Looking for some walrus milk
08:15It looks like
08:16You can tell he's dehydrated
08:20Cute little guy
08:22But they did the right thing
08:23The guys called the local authorities
08:25And transferred him down to the Sea Life Center
08:27In Seward, Alaska
08:40The Alaska Sea Life Center
08:41Is the only place in the country
08:43To take in baby walruses
08:45Ten orphans have come through its door
08:47Since it opened in 1998
08:49And now they have a new one
09:01This one week old baby
09:02Was discovered alone
09:03On a beach in the far north of Alaska
09:05In 2024
09:08She's covered in scratches
09:09And puncture wounds
09:11Probably from rolling around on the rocky beach
09:20She's a snotty-nosed kid
09:25That's one way to get a sample
09:30I'm pretty confident
09:31This calf would not have made it
09:33She was clearly alone for a period of time
09:37She was already malnourished
09:44But the biggest sigh of relief I have
09:46Was her being good about taking food from a bottle
09:50It makes a world of difference
09:57It's a critical time for this baby walrus
10:00Three of their previous orphans were so ill
10:03That they died
10:08For me, the big question
10:10Is whether this orphan's plight
10:12Might be linked to changes in its arctic home
10:20Most of the world's walrus
10:22Some 250,000 of them
10:24Live in the frigid seas between Russia and Alaska
10:28Adults breed during the winter
10:30In areas of open water
10:31On the southern edge of the sea ice
10:35As the ice begins to melt in spring
10:38Females and their calves drift north on their ice flows
10:40Through the Bering Strait
10:43And into the Arctic Ocean
10:46The males stay south
10:47And head to land
10:50One of their favorite spots
10:52Is Round Island
11:09Round Island is a remote, ethereal place
11:13I've always wanted to return to
11:18I was last here in 1985
11:21It's so amazing to be back here
11:23Because these walruses stuck themselves in my mind
11:27Like a mind worm or something like that
11:32In my early 20s
11:33I was working as a marine geologist
11:35Investigating the feeding grounds of walrus
11:39And it was here on Round Island
11:41Where I had my first encounter
11:46It was love at first sight
12:10I wake up to a mysterious
12:13Chiming
12:15Almost like church bells
12:19It feels like the walruses are welcoming me back to the island
12:32A lot of these walruses do seem to be having
12:35Kind of a social time with their friends
12:39When two of them approach each other
12:41They go right face to face
12:42And their little fuzzy muzzles come together
12:46Like kiss almost
12:47Hello
12:48Those whiskers are very tactile and very sensitive
12:53They're actually feeling each other's face
12:55And I guess saying
12:56Hey, you're a walrus too
12:58I'm a walrus
12:59And who knows what other information they're transferring
13:05Walruses make their chimes by moving air around sacks in their neck
13:09Their air sacks also serve as life jackets
13:12Allowing them to take naps while at sea
13:16So it's funny
13:16It looks like a bunch of pinkish brown corks
13:19Bobbing around a bunch of rocks
13:22They look like they're dead
13:23But they just sleep
13:24And you watch them for 10 to 15 minutes
13:26And finally they'll put their head up
13:27And blow a little bit of air out
13:28And take a breath
13:28And go back to sleeping
13:41This is the oldest wildlife sanctuary in Alaska
13:46When hunting was banned here in 1960
13:48Round Island became a safe haven for walrus
13:59Seabirds flock here in their tens of thousands to nest on the cliff faces
14:07Check out this sweet little parakeet auklet
14:13At the south end of the island
14:15Stellar sea lands cavort in the waves
14:20Their bellies are full after feasting on herring
14:25They are so much more frisky than their walrus cousins
14:30They prefer to hang out on their own beach
14:32On the north side of the island
14:52It's an amazing spot
14:54We're on the edge of Round Island
14:55And looking out at this point
14:57And there's about 300 walruses hauled out on the beach
15:01Sleeping together
15:02For the next couple of months
15:03These walruses will be doing what they're doing now
15:05Which is not a whole lot
15:10And that's what Round Island is
15:12A place for these males to chill
15:14Or rather warm up
15:15After a strenuous winter breeding season
15:19Their spring break and summer vacation
15:21All rolled into one
15:29This one right now actually is lying on his back
15:33With his tusks straight up in the air
15:35And his flippers out
15:36It's a pretty non-stressful life for the walrus around Round Island
15:40Wake up in the morning
15:42Go for a swim with a couple of your buddies
15:43Fall out on a rock
15:45Sleep some more
15:45Go back to the beach
15:47Sleep some more
15:48Life is good
15:59When I was here last
16:00Almost 40 years ago
16:02There were a lot more walruses on the beach
16:05It makes me wonder why numbers are down today
16:13During the spring and summer
16:15Two wardens live on Round Island
16:16And monitor walrus arrivals and departures
16:20You guys are here for three and a half months by yourselves
16:23Yeah
16:23What's life on the island like?
16:25This is my personal happy place
16:27I mean you get to be on this remote island
16:30Where there's not a lot of human activity
16:32Quiet
16:33You can just be with your thoughts
16:34And surrounded by nature
16:35It's really a sort of connection with a place
16:40And a natural place
16:41That it's easy to not have in our lives
16:44And that's pretty magical
16:48So you count the walruses every day?
16:50Yes
16:50So there's nine beaches
16:52That we count every day
16:54Either as going in person
16:56Or using cameras that we keep on the island
16:57That actually take pictures of all the haul outs
17:02Over winter
17:03Round Island is locked in by sea ice
17:09But it quickly opens up to visitors
17:11After the spring thaw
17:16We usually see the arrival of walruses here
17:19Anything between starting as early as February or March
17:22We start seeing our peak numbers
17:24Like towards the end of July
17:25Through potentially September
17:27And what's a big count for you?
17:29Most years we'll have
17:31A bunch of days over a thousand
17:33And a few days that are two or three thousand
17:40Watching walruses move all at once
17:42Makes me think of them more like a single entity
17:48One day they're here
17:50And the next they're gone
17:54Walrus come and go from Round Island every few days
17:57Sometimes to escape heavy surf
17:59To feast on clams
18:02And sometimes to visit a thermal spa
18:04On the nearby mainland
18:14The black sand here absorbs energy from the sun
18:17And heats up as the day goes on
18:20Just what's needed after a cold dip
18:33The tightly packed huddle keeps them all warm
18:36But newcomers aren't always welcome
18:44The strange lumps around big males' necks
18:47Helps protect them from tuskings by rival males
18:50They're called bosses
18:52And are a sign of maturity
18:53Like a lion's mane
18:57The older the walrus
18:59The bossier it gets
19:03Those bosses
19:05The lady walruses think that they're sexy
19:07I've heard it's good eating
19:09Really?
19:11It's like gristle
19:12It's like crackling
19:17One thing our position here on the island all summer
19:20Has allowed us to observe
19:22Is the way sounds can cause disturbance
19:26When you're sitting up there counting
19:28And you hear a commercial jet go over
19:30You can see sometimes it will cause a stampede or a disturbance
19:42They have really poor eyesight so they rely heavily on what the rest of the herd is doing
19:49Sounds, airplanes, gunshots, boats, bears, foxes
19:53There's a lot of little things
19:55Even if it's nothing, a rock falling
19:57It can cause thousands of walruses to flee to the water
20:01And it's the older animals and the younger ones that get trampled and killed or injured
20:10Baby walrus avoid being crushed by living on the sea ice with their moms
20:23This one ended up on a beach
20:26Separated from its mother
20:30After a few days rehab at the Alaska Sea Life Center
20:34Little Miss Walrus, as she's being called
20:36Seems to be doing well
20:37Three, two, one
20:42They do a sneaky x-ray while she feeds
20:45Three, two, one
20:48Fortunately, there's no broken bones
20:54The most challenging part of this cab's rehabilitation is just the unknown
20:59These are very young, very sensitive animals
21:02And we don't know at any point could she get sick for a reason
21:06Good job, you're doing so quick
21:08Now you get to have fun if you want to have fun
21:14Like most babies, Little Miss Walrus should enjoy a bath
21:24All she could do at that moment in time was just put her head in
21:26Because she was just so tired
21:28But the fact that we're able to introduce her to water
21:31And the fact that she took to it right away
21:35Just seeing her really explore and really love that water was really heartwarming
21:45Baby walrus need round-the-clock care
21:48And there's no shortage of volunteers flying in to help
21:53We are a lot of moms
21:54She has about 10 or 12 different moms
21:59It's also just giving her the kind of social experience
22:04We're actually sitting with her and getting her that close contact that she would need
22:13We can tell already she's a fighter
22:15And that's what you need when you have an animal that you're rescuing
22:19And rehabilitating is they've got to put in some of the effort themselves too
22:23And we're giving her everything that we can
22:25And she's actually responding to it
22:27And that's amazing
22:32Little Miss Walrus has become highly dependent on her surrogate moms
22:36She can never be released back into the wild
22:39She would not survive
22:44Instead, she will be moved to a much larger sea life center
22:48Where hopefully, she'll make friends with other walruses
22:54Dozer!
22:57Hi buddy!
23:01Dozer is a sight to behold
23:03A 3,500 pound adult male in his prime
23:08All right
23:09He was born at SeaWorld San Diego
23:11And is now 31 years old
23:13We just celebrated his birthday with tons of clams
23:16And a large frozen ice cake
23:19Do you want to give him a fish?
23:20Yeah, hell yeah
23:21All right
23:22There you go
23:23All right, dozer
23:25Super easy
23:25I know, don't take my job, okay?
23:30His breath isn't bad, actually
23:33I thought he had awful breath
23:34Their breath is not too bad
23:36It's the other end thing, you know
23:41Dozer has an impressive appetite
23:44And like all walrus
23:45Is a virtuoso vocalist
23:52There we go
23:58Wow, that whistle is great
24:00It's amazing, isn't it?
24:05It's only when you're this close to a fully grown walrus
24:09That you can really appreciate how big, weird, and wonderful these animals truly are
24:16Bulbous eyes, which allow them to see behind their head
24:20Giant saber-toothed tusks that can grow three feet long
24:23And that great mustache
24:27Packed with sensitive whiskers
24:29The Vibrisi
24:31They're using those whiskers to really comb the floor
24:34Find where their food is
24:36They are very helpful tools
24:38They can move them all independently
24:40Just like 700 fingers right on the front of your face
24:43So if you ever turn out the lights in your home
24:44And you're just feeling around
24:46He's definitely good at doing that
24:47Amazing
24:48How much are you feeding him a day right now?
24:49Right now, about 125 pounds a day
24:52That's a pretty healthy meal for him
24:55Oh boy
25:00Walrus will never go hungry here
25:03But in the wild, it's a different story
25:11So you guys all found your seatbelts?
25:14All right, with that, we'll be off
25:19Wow, what a fabulous day to fly, man
25:24This is gorgeous
25:28Warmer summers may be making it harder for walrus to find enough food
25:32I'm heading to a beach to dig deeper into their diet
25:36You know what a beautiful spot this is?
25:39It's so glassy out here
25:40It really is, today
25:44It's a perfect day for clamming
25:47And who better to take me than Willie, who sports a mustache that any walrus would be proud of
25:53There's a seal or two down there now
25:55Wow, we're gonna see a whole bunch of sea otters in the kelp on the backside of this island here
25:59All right
25:59Coming up on our left
26:00Oh my god, let's get a ball
26:03They're all waving at him
26:20Low tide has exposed a seafood platter on the beach
26:24And there are plenty of creatures looking to join the feast
26:32Looks like he's got a little eel there
26:37You little guys, they
26:45The tricky thing about finding clams is they burrow deep to hide from predators
26:53A lot of digging, not so many clams
27:02Grizzly bears love clams too
27:05They have the advantage of an incredible sense of smell
27:12Fortunately, this one is too busy clamming to care about me
27:22The fox is hoping for leftovers
27:25But the bear is not happy to share
27:39There we go
27:41Look at that guy
27:43This is what the bears are after
27:45Big, fat, juicy clams
27:48And when they get them, what they do is they actually press down and crack the shells
27:51And lick the clam meat out of the shells
27:57And the bears go for clams during the low tides
28:00And the walrus is going after clams that are in water depths of anywhere from a few feet to maybe
28:05200 feet deep
28:06And they go after them in a different way
28:16People used to think that walrus use their tusks to dig for clams like bears use their claws
28:23But we now know they use their tongue like a piston to squirt a powerful jet of water
28:28That blasts away the mud to expose the buried clams
28:34And they use their super sensitive whiskers to find their tasty treasure
28:45So what the walrus does
28:47It literally puts the clam in its lips
28:51And then sucks
28:52And the walrus sucks at least the siphon out of the clam
28:56And sometimes the entire clam body
28:57Then they'll spit the empty shell back onto the seafloor
29:00And go for another clam
29:02And some walruses, like the ones we saw on Round Island
29:05Can do something like 5,000 clams a day
29:10So if you do a quick thumbnail calculation
29:13There's around 250,000 walruses
29:16Eating 5,000 clams each
29:19That's well over a billion clams a day
29:26It's hard to believe there could be so much life in this desolate ice world
29:34But sea ice hides an incredible secret
29:46Living on the underside of the ice are millions of microscopic organisms
29:52Sea ice algae
29:54They harness energy from the sun to grow
29:57Just like grass
30:11The animals that graze here are tiny shrimp-like creatures called amphipods
30:21Predators then eat the amphipods
30:24And the food chain continues
30:41Ice algae is also essential to life on the seafloor
30:45When the ice melts
30:47The algae sinks to the bottom and feeds other animals
30:51Including clams that walrus depend on
31:00The Arctic is almost like going to a different planet
31:04The same with the Antarctic
31:05When you go to the polar regions
31:06You experience things you just never see when you're in mid-latitudes
31:10You see sun that doesn't set in the summer
31:13And doesn't rise in the winter
31:16And yet there's these areas of incredibly high biological productivity
31:21And the life that you see in the Arctic
31:23Whether it's walruses or seals or whales or seabirds or caribou or moose
31:29It's just like a remarkable place
31:37Arctic terns chase the midnight sun their whole lives
31:40They fly all the way from Antarctica to breed in Alaska
31:46Swapping one summer for another
31:55The life cycle of sea ice is also driven by the sun
32:00The cool thing about ice in the Arctic
32:03Is that it takes a while to form
32:05But it can go away very rapidly
32:07The freeze up is a gradual thing and the thaw can be very abrupt
32:15As the sea ice melts
32:16It leaves behind a growing expanse of dark water
32:20That absorbs more energy from the sun
32:23The warmer water melts the remaining ice even faster
32:27And as Arctic summers become warmer
32:29More and more sea ice is disappearing
32:33It's been called the Arctic Death Spiral
32:41It's kind of personal for me
32:43Because when I came up here in 1982
32:45There was a lot of sea ice
32:48And now 42 years later
32:51We've lost a third of the summer sea ice
32:53So just in my own personal memory of the Arctic
32:56We've lost about a million square miles of summer ice
32:59And you have to imagine
33:01That that's going to have some impact on the walrus
33:14When I was doing my research back in the 80s
33:16I was using side-scan sonar to locate walrus feeding grounds
33:22These are on the shallow continental shelf that bridges Russia and Alaska
33:27Here the rich seafloor contains vast clam beds
33:31A marine version of the Great Plains grasslands
33:37Walrus mothers and calves depend on the moving sea ice
33:41To carry them over this rich source of food
33:44But now as the sea ice melts farther north
33:48If they stay on their platforms
33:50They will be carried beyond the continental shelf
33:54Into deep water
33:56And deep trouble
34:01The walrus is not going to dive 8,000 feet down to eat clams
34:04It's just diving down 200 feet to eat clams
34:06So once the ice is off the edge of the continental shelf
34:09It's not a useful tool for the walrus
34:17To survive, they must abandon their ice flows and head for land
34:24And they do so in extraordinary numbers
34:39Over 100,000 walrus gather on a single beach in the far northeast of Russia
34:45It's the largest haul out in the world
35:04In the past, far fewer came here
35:08For many years, there were none at all
35:12Today, finding an empty spot on the beach is a bit of a struggle
35:26Females and calves make up over half the haul out
35:30It's a far cry from their peaceful life on an ice flow
35:38The biggest danger to a calf is being squashed by another walrus
35:44Staying close to mom
35:45Ideally on top of her is the safest place to be
35:59But not everyone survives the crush
36:06A new orphan
36:08Another victim of a disappearing ice world
36:25Few orphans are as lucky as little miss walrus
36:28After a month at the Alaska Sea Life Center
36:31Things are looking up
36:33Her skin's looking much better
36:35Things are starting to heal
36:36And she has energy
36:38We now have what was a sick, weak animal
36:42Becoming very animated
36:46Since she arrived here
36:48Little miss walrus has put on 60 pounds
36:51She's ready to make a bigger splash
37:10She really likes to do this little throw yourself into the pool backwards thing
37:17And the look on her face was just like pure bliss
37:28This orphan's rehabilitation is nearing its end
37:31It's time to move her to a permanent home
37:34There's only four facilities in the United States that house walruses
37:39Ultimately we all came into a consensus that SeaWorld Orlando would be the best place for her at this time
37:45A big part of it is because they have the most walruses in human care
37:54Transporting a baby walrus all the way across the continent is not an everyday occurrence
37:58What do you even pack?
38:01Plenty of milk for sure
38:05Before she leaves Alaska
38:07Little miss walrus is given a new name
38:10Uki is a shortened version of ukiak
38:13Which means autumn
38:15In the language from the land she came from
38:18Which was the lands of the Anubic people
38:21It just so happens if you shorten that name a little bit into uki
38:25That means survivor
38:27Alright let's get a bottle ready
38:29Let's get her in a towel
38:31Okay
38:33Yeah I do
38:34She doesn't believe
38:37No
38:41No
38:41It's okay
38:45This is good sweet yet
38:56It's like part of the family and so it's gonna be definitely sad like coming into work tomorrow and she's
39:01not gonna be here and I'm gonna have to clean up all her toys
39:10But it's for the best like this is the best outcome for her like she didn't have any chance on
39:16that beach and so we are giving her a second life
39:40For walrus in the wild there's a mounting problem
39:40For walrus in the wild there's a mounting problem
39:51As more and more walrus haul out on land they quickly exhaust nearby clam beds
40:01And without ice floes to carry them females have to spend more time swimming to new feeding grounds
40:08If they lose weight
40:09If they lose weight
40:10It could lead to lower birth rates
40:12Smaller calves
40:14And potentially
40:16Even a population crash
40:24A shortage of food also affects other animals that cruise these shores
40:38When I first came to Alaska in the 1980s it wasn't just walrus that I was studying
40:43I was also studying gray whales and the reason for that was that both of these animals are benthic feeders
40:48They feed on the sediment in the sea floor
40:58Gray whales are the only whales to feed this way
41:02They aren't after clams
41:04But amphipods and other crustaceans that live in the sea floor
41:10They're eating by scooping up big sections of the sea floor
41:14And they billow that sand and silt out of their mouths leaving behind a straight big plume of muddy water
41:19And in their mouths it retained the actual prey items
41:30Gray whales migrate all the way from Mexico to feed in the same rich waters as walrus
41:35Making pit stops along the way like here off Kodiak Island
41:41This is a critical habitat area for gray whales
41:45And before the unusual mortality events started and even the first couple of years
41:50If we were standing here at this time of year it would be like smokestacks going off
41:54Whales everywhere
41:55Just seeing all the whales spouting
42:00After a record low ice cover in the winter of 2017
42:03Large numbers of gray whales began stranding along their migratory route
42:08Including several on Kodiak Island
42:10It's thought that around 5,000 whales died over four years
42:15A population crash of 25%
42:21It appears that many of them actually starved to death
42:24We were able to do a blubber biopsy basically just to see the thickness of the blubber
42:28It's really really tough to cut through and is only about that thick
42:31It should have been about like that
42:33These are animals that would have been down to Baja and were headed back up to the Bering Sea
42:37Exactly
42:37And just couldn't make it
42:38Yeah
42:38Kind of like the long walk from food and they just ran out of food
42:42They just ran out of gas and they couldn't quite make it
42:45So insights from the gray whales will help us understand what's going on
42:48The walrus instead
42:49Quite possibly
42:50And all of the change that's occurring ultimately have a huge impact
42:54And cause ripples throughout the entire ocean
43:06How far these ripples will spread is uncertain
43:09But ripple they will
43:10Less sea ice means less sea ice algae
43:14And less sea ice algae means an ecosystem starved of vital food
43:31The intricate connections of life put all the animals that live here at risk
43:37Including our walrus
43:45The most pessimistic climate models suggest that the Arctic could have a completely ice-free day as early as 2027
44:06It's hard to imagine walrus surviving in an ice-free world
44:14Unlike seals and sea lions who live both in cold and warm coastal waters
44:19Walrus only live in the Arctic
44:29But if you go back in time far enough walrus have a surprising history
44:37I've come to visit an old friend
44:40I've come to visit an old friend
44:41Tom's another big walrus fan
44:42Hey Kurt
44:43How are you man?
44:44There's one skull I wanted to show you but
44:46I can't figure out where we put it
44:50The embarrassment of riches problem
44:52Although there's only one walrus species alive today
44:56Over the past 17 million years
44:59There's been at least 20
45:02The earliest had no tusks and looked more like a sea lion
45:07Eventually they took on a more recognizable form
45:10I think I know where it is
45:12Okay
45:14Oh that is amazing
45:16Look at that
45:16That's great
45:18This is a skull of an adult
45:21Thalaenictus chula vistensis
45:22About three and a half million years old
45:24From here in the San Diego area
45:27So what are we looking at?
45:28We've got the left tusk
45:30Right
45:31And here's the orbit
45:32So the eye is there
45:33This big hole here is where the nerves would come out to feed that mustache
45:37Oh wow, all the whiskers
45:39Yeah
45:40This is amazing because it
45:41I can see some differences
45:43But it really is a walrus with big tusks
45:46And clearly a section feeder
45:48Yeah, everything about it suggests that it's feeding like a modern walrus
45:52So what's the difference?
45:54This animal that lived here in San Diego three and a half million years ago
45:57Was not living in any way with ice
45:59So this was an animal that was adapted to warm waters here
46:03That's pretty cool
46:05This lineage lived very happily in a world with no ice at all
46:09Anything we think about modern walruses
46:11We have to put it in the context that there was an animal very like it
46:14Living in San Diego three and a half million years ago
46:16And that changes the way I think about a walrus
46:22Walrus in California?
46:24Who would have thought?
46:30Walrus evolved as warm water animals
46:32Long before they made the Arctic their home
46:36Perhaps within their DNA they retain some sort of resilience to survive in an ice-free world
46:43But I really hope it doesn't come to that
46:55I've come to check out Uki's new home
46:59There are 12 walruses in aquariums across the United States
47:04And half of them live here at SeaWorld Orlando
47:10These are going to be Uki's new buddies
47:21Uki's been kept away from the other walruses since she arrived here four months ago
47:26And she seems happy as a clam
47:33She's recently out of quarantine
47:35Which means she's finally accepting visitors
47:39Hello
47:40How's it going?
47:42Welcome
47:43Very nice to see you
47:50Come on
47:50She's like an excitable little puppy that wants to follow me everywhere
47:54Come on
47:55Let's go guys
47:56Let's go
47:58Yeah, that is so cute
48:02Come on Uki
48:05There we go
48:06Up and running
48:13Ever since Uki was found alone on that beach
48:16She's only ever had humans for company
48:19So how is she going to react when she meets an adult walrus in the pool next door?
48:29Caboodle is a 21-year-old female
48:31Her criss-cross tusks look a little menacing
48:40Come on Uki
48:41Good job
48:43Come on
48:44Come on Uki
48:46Let's go around the corner
48:57Oh yeah
49:01Introducing Uki to Caboodle has to be a carefully choreographed operation
49:07Uki is still a vulnerable toddler
49:11Here we go
49:17Oh yeah
49:18You should go talk to Caboodle
49:20You know you like me
49:21Give my other bottle
49:21Give Caboodle a talk
49:24Here we go
49:27The best way to encourage walruses to bond?
49:30Over food of course
49:32She gets bottles that include fish fillets that are ground up
49:36Uh huh
49:37And some clams that are ground up in the blender
49:39Clam milkshake basically
49:40Yeah it's good
49:41Delicious
49:50That's going to be your new surrogate mom there
49:52Yeah
49:53Yeah
49:53So that's what we're seeing mostly is lots of kisses and little
49:56Oh they sound like a kiss
49:57Yeah
49:59But just even being in here and listening to the other walruses
50:02Yeah
50:02It's all part of the transition
50:05That's what I'm saying
50:06That's what I'm saying
50:12That's what I'm saying
50:12Caboodle is the perfect mom for Uki
50:15She's been a surrogate to a rescued orphan before
50:22The bond between them will grow stronger by the day
50:26But right now Uki just wants to play
50:34That's what she comes
50:35See clearly is having a good time
50:37Yeah
50:37I think we have a bond
50:39Me and Uki
50:40That's good
50:41Well a beautiful little walrus baby
50:44Oh my god how lovely is that
50:47Okay
50:49Uki will always feel at ease with people
50:53Soon she'll be back with other walrus too
50:58A life depended on human care
51:01But at least her future is secure
51:16As sea ice diminishes more and more each year
51:18The fate of walrus in the wild is increasingly uncertain
51:39In the future they will not just face a shortage of food and safe places to raise their pups
51:46They will face a new threat
51:52The more the Arctic Ocean opens up
51:54The more this once pristine wilderness becomes vulnerable
52:05Walrus evolved in an ice-free past
52:10Let's hope they can survive in an ice-free future
52:21Oh no
52:22Oh no
52:24Oh no
52:38Ooh
52:40Ooh
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