Walruses: For Kids - Amazing Animal Books for Young Readers
By John Davidson & Kim Chase
- Release Date: 2014-02-17
- Genre: Animals for Kids
Description
Bestselling author John Davidson presents "Walruses - For Kids – Amazing Animal Books For Young Readers". Beautiful Pictures and easy reading format will help children fall in love with walruses. This is one of over 30 books in the Amazing Animal Books for Young Readers Series.
The series is known as one of the most beautiful on the kindle. The pictures look great even in black and white and are excellent on the full color kindle.
Lots of facts and photos will help your children learn about this wonderful animal. Children are given a well-rounded understanding of walruses: anatomy, feeding habits and behavior.
*** You and your kids will love learning about walruses
Introduction
1. Information On Walruses
2. Facts About Walruses
3. Pacific Walruses
4. Arctic Walruses
5. Baby Walruses
6. How Walruses Communicate
7. Walruses' Habitat
8. Walruses' Diet
9. Where do Walruses Come From?
10. Seals and Walruses
11. Life In the Herd
12. Walrus Features
13. Walruses and Humans
14. Migration
15. Living in Cold Waters
16. Walruses are Endangered
17. Pictures of Walruses.
Facts About Walruses
Walruses are very social creatures that like to gather in herds. The size of their herds can range in number anywhere from 100 walruses to more than 1,000! An adult male walrus is called a bull. The female walrus is called a cow.
The reason that walruses lay in the sun is to keep warm. Although their color is usually a reddish brown, when they lay in the sun, their skin can turn pink in color. It is actually good when their skin color changes to pink. That is a sign that the walrus is warming up. The walrus also has its thick blubber to protect them and keep them warm from the freezing cold waters of the Artic. This layer of blubber is under the skin of the walrus, and can measure to over 5” thick.
When walruses are young, their coat is a deep colored brown. As the walruses grow older, this color begins to change. Their color gets lighter, and looks more reddish brown. When male walruses become old, the color of their skin turns mostly pink. When a walrus is swimming, they can look almost white in color. This is because the cold water makes their skin blood vessels become tighter and narrower.
A walrus can stay up to 30 minutes underwater before they must surface for air. The walrus can actually slow down their heartbeat so that they can stand up to the icy cold Artic water temperatures. Most groups of walrus will travel south for the winter months, then turn around and head north for the summer.
The male walruses have air sacs that can be found by their neck. These air sacs are very useful. One thing it helps them to do is make loud, deep roaring sounds. These sacs can also fill up with air. When they inflate, the walrus can stay afloat in the water vertically so that he can go to sleep. Their nostrils stay closed when they are resting.
Both the female and the male walruses have tusks, but it is the males’ tusks that are slightly longer. These tusks will continue to grow over their lifetime. A female’s tusk can measure 2-½ ft long, while, a male’s tusk can measure over 3 ft. long! The scientific name for walrus is Odobenus rosmarus. In Latin, this name actually means, “tooth walking sea horse”.
The walruses’ whiskers, also known as mystacial vibrissae, are also very interesting. They can have as many as 13 to 15 rows of whiskers that are 12” long. That could mean as many as 400 to 700 total whiskers! Many times, walruses that live in the wild, do not have whiskers that reach that long. They are always using their whiskers to look for food at the ocean’s bottom, so their whiskers are shorter.