Walrus are Terrifying - Here's Why 

Walruses have to defend themselves from polar bears, one of the largest land carnivores alive today. It should come as no surprise that they can be extremely aggressive.

Walruses, Elephant Seals, Moose, and Hippos belong to a very special group of animals that I like to refer as the "They may look adorable and cuddly in a weird, awkward kind of way, but if you piss them off they will end you without a second thought" group.

I wanna talk to the people who thought it was a good idea to put a seal pup in the same enclosure as a walrus, I just wanna talk I promise.

Wow, walruses are 1000% more horrifying than I thought they were!

Whenever i see sauropod dinosaurs depicted as gentle giants my mind goes right to hippos, cape buffalo, and yeah, walruses. I wager they were gargantuan, smelly, nasty mean beasts.

This video made me very glad I wasn’t born a seal. Not only do you have orcas and polar bears trying to get you, you also have the risk of getting your flesh vacuumed off by a walrus.

I've seen headless seal carcasses on beaches. Never occurred to me that it was due to a walrus. I knew they could be formidable, but not as cruel as this. Wow!

Horkers are much more accurate to real life than I realized.

That pingu clip unlocked a childhood memory i had forgotten. I started to remember how scared i used to be seeing that. But i think that was more like a leopard seal than a walrus.

When I lived in the Canadian Arctic a few Inuit hunters told me about black walrus'. They're the result of an young orphaned walrus pup not learning how to feed on clams and shellfish, as a result they resort to hunting seals. The rich oily blubber of the seal cause the walrus' hide to become black and greasy. Black walrus' are spoken of as bad, prone to deliberately attacking hunting boats.

My entire life I thought they lived entirely off of fish and shellfish. The thought of one of these big guys eating a baby seal or a whale carcass is very disturbing

My great great grandfather and my great grandfather were both killed by an injured walrus back in 1869

The old arctic explorers were more afraid of walrus than polar bears. Bull walrus are extremely territorial like hippos. Polar bears usually ran off, walrus would capsize boats and attack sleighs. I've read a bunch of arctic exploration books and was surprised when I learned this.

Very informative. I did not know that the walrus feeding technique utilised extremely low pressure. What a novel way to open bivalves. Their oral anatomy must be very distinctive and traceable in the fossil record.

People just don't seem to understand that most wild animals are killers. If our ancestors were that ignorant we wouldn't be here today.

Have always had an astonishment and fearful respect for these creatures. Closest I ever got to one was at a zoo, but it was more than enough to appreciate how massive they can get to be.

The only truly terrifying thing related to walruses is Tusk.

General rule of thumb: if it doesn't look built to run away, it'll beat you to death if given a reason.

Isn't this how Thylacosmilus was theorised to feed? I always thought it should be nicknamed "pouched gut sucker"

So they are the oceanic version of hippos in a way

Scientific names of all thirty-five extant pinniped species: 1) Halichoerus grypus - Grey Seal 2) Phoca vitulina - Harbor Seal 3) Phoca largha - Spotted Seal 4) Pusa hispida - Ringed Seal 5) Pusa caspica - Caspian Seal 6) Pusa sibirica - Baikal Seal 7) Pagophilus groenlandicus - Harp Seal 8) Histriophoca fasciata - Ribbon Seal 9) Erignathus barbatus - Bearded Seal 10) Monachus monachus - Mediterranean Monk Seal 11) Paramonachus schauinslandi - Hawaiian Monk Seal 12) Leptonychotes weddellii - Weddell Seal 13) Ommatophoca rossii - Ross Seal 14) Hydrurga leptonyx - Leopard Seal 15) Lobodon carcinophagus - Crabeater Seal 16) Cystophora cristata - Hooded Seal 17) Mirounga angustirostris - Northern Elephant Seal 18) Mirounga leonina - Southern Elephant Seal 19) Callorhinus ursinus - Northern Fur Seal 20) Arctophoca townsendi - Guadalupe Fur Seal 21) Arctophoca galapagoensis - Galapagos Fur Seal 22) Arctophoca philippii - Juan Fernandez Fur Seal 23) Arctophoca australis - South American Fur Seal 24) Arctocephalus pusillus - Cape Fur Seal 25) Arctocephalus tropicalis - Subantarctic Fur Seal 26) Arctocephalus gazella - Antarctic Fur Seal 27) Cynophoca dorifera - Australian Fur Seal 28) Cynophoca forsteri - New Zealand Fur Seal 29) Eumetopias jubatus - Steller's Sea Lion 30) Zalophus californianus - California Sea Lion 31) Zalophus wollebaeki - Galapagos Sea Lion 32) Otaria flavescens - South American Sea Lion 33) Neophoca cinerea - Australian Sea Lion 34) Phocarctos hookeri - New Zealand Sea Lion 35) Odobenus rosmarus - Walrus

I am 59 years old and still learning stuff :) Great channel!

Walruses scare the hell out of me! Every aquarium I’ve been to, a walrus has rammed the glass wall trying to get at me. I hadn’t been doing anything but standing still, looking through the glass. I think it might have thought that I was a seal on account of my black hair. 🙀🙀🙀

I’ve seen a polar bear walk up to thousands of walruses and just start eating one alive

Pengu’s close shave with a walrus is more terrifying then I ever would’ve thought, great video I literally knew nothing about walrus feeding before this! I consider myself a rogue walrus 💪

With how many clams walruses eat, I'm surprised clams haven't been driven to extinction.

I met my wife back in 1989. She was the lab manager at Sea World. Early on, I was invited to observe a surgery on a Walrus, it had swallowed something plastic and the object was causing issues in it's digestive tract. I went wandering around a bit and saw a Walrus in a caged area, it was up against some bars. I started to reach in to give it a scratch. I was suddenly thrown to the ground by one of the employees. After I recovered from the shock of being pushed to the ground and overcame the anger, I was schooled on the danger I put myself in. Walruses have a tremendous sucking power. If you've ever seen one in a "show" where they "balance" a large ball on their snout, they are not balancing. They are sucking. They suck the ball up against their face. Apparently, they've been known to suck a keeper's arm into their mouths and actually rip the arm apart. I was chastised of course, for both wandering about where I shouldn't have been and being reckless and careless. Which I deserved of course. I'm not a fan of these animals and others like it being in captivity, I've evolved. I don't consider these animals aggressive, I consider them like I do most wild animals, they survive. And do what they have to do to survive. And being in captivity is not part of that plan so I give them a pass for any "aggressive" behavior they are perceived to have.

A walrus is basically a hippo with MASSIVE TUSKS

I’ve always been creeped out by walrus finally someone brought this into the light

I thought walruses were scary before watching this video but... I definitely wasn't ready for this. Good thing none of them have tried to eat humans. That would be a gruesome way to die.

The movie tusks alone is enough to classify them as terrifying…

Their method of feeding sounds like something out a science fiction horror story.

I am gobsmacked! I had Absolutely no clue that walruses are hunters of anything other than shellfish. This was truly eye opening

That was an awesome episode! Can't wait for the next!

Walruses are thankfully not dangerous to humans. I learned this from Skyrim. They they deal little to no damage, and have terrible mobility. They do have a moderate amount of health though so you need to hack at them a few times in melee. They could be dangerous if you're a puny elf, but definitely not dangerous to humans or orcs. Khajits don't fight them they outsource the hunting. Khajit has tusks if you have coin.

Im surprised you didnt mention the stories of human predation told by certain indigenous tribes? I heard a story where a man was stabbed in the chest killing him instantly then the walrus used its suction to suck out chunks of lung and chest muscle. There was also the walrus in captivity in China that drowned 2 men at the same time seemingly for no reason? They might be the most dangerous of all the seal family?

"say my name" "you are the walrus" "you 're goddamn right"

I really enjoy your videos; you put a lot of thought into your work.

My girlfriend has a fear of walruses specifically because she watched "Tusk" at a way too young age

I remember a comment from one of the Arctic expeditions (I thinknit might have been a found diary from the Franklin expedition, though I'm not sure) of a man being killed by a walrus. By having his face sucked off. Maybe apocryphal, but stuck with me.

If you look at a walrus long enough, it starts to look like some sort of undead horror from the end of a Final Fantasy game.

For a wild animal, they ARE chill (this doesn't mean you should hug them)

getting your head pulverised in a walrus' kiss of death where you'll only have bits of your skull lest afterwards... welp, if that's not nightmare fuel idk what is

This is 1 reason why I mained Walrein in Pokémon Gen 3!

One actually saved me from freezing to death, oh i love walruses so much! You should come to my home to hear my tale

When I was a kid we were at the San Diego zoo. You could feed walruses squid. We were way up high above them and dropped the food to them. Their whiskers were surprisingly soft.

7:50 Survival is violent. That image is part of the natural order. It's difficult to look at, but it's the image of "nature" in action.

Never thought i would find an animal with such a comical appearance to be both threatening and morbidly interesting

The movie Tusk is a strong endorsement of Walrus life.

So, they can just slurp the innards right out of Clams; eh?

You learn something new every day. Today I learned that walruses are the most metal of all pinapeds. .

Great images. Horse Whale :)

Walrus are awesome animals and fr sure are scary if you aren't careful. This was a great video on how they hunt and just their general morphology. Keep up the great work ❤

The walrus from Alice in wonderland and that clay animation really stuck with me. Same with the talking walruses

I don't know exactly what could be causing it or if it's just something with my ears, but it feels like every S-sound in this video produces a sharp, uncomfortable whistle. I have not been sleeping, so it's probably less severe than I experience it, but I hope somebody fixes it.

I wonder how things would swing with a walrus up against a leopard seal. Probably nothing as leopard seals back off elephant seals but it would be sparks if the walrus thought it was just a typical seal.

I almost choked on my smoothie at the fucking Pingu clip lmao

The tusks are a given. I didn’t know they could also suck my brains out

The Sabre Toothed Seal takes no prisoners.

as long as it’s not an internet journalist anatomically rearranged into a walrus by a deranged shipwreck survivor it can’t be THAT terrifying

Jamie Hyneman really is terrifying.

well, they're still fun to watch in their herds waddling around on beaches - ah, the cute waddling walruses!

Pontolis must have been impressive in life. Even larger and more fearsome than a leopard seal.

So Walruses are capable of hunting and consuming relatively large animals.

Imagine a zombie walrus outbreak, they be very efficient at sucking out brains at a more rapid rate compared to human zombies.

Hullo, what editing software you use? Something pretty bad happened to my editing software, so I been using Filmora and I been working on this video about Majungasaurus and I really wanted to start a Dinosaur documentary series. Filmora got an update and when I got the update, it ruined my video. I use this zooming effect like everyone does for the images and now its all jerky, its no longer smooth and turns out it happened to other people. Also the preview is super laggy. What should I do? I have Premiere Pro from school but it's so messy looking, also I have iMovie but its very limited... Should I try using Filmora and iMovie and put everything together?

Walruses aren't the only ones. Many predators don't wear their teeth down eating just any part of an animal. Many predators, especially apex predators, eat only the nutrient dense organ meat and leave the rest for scavengers and lower predators. Fat (blubber, brains) is not nutrient dense but is calorie dense, and easy to chew, hence the preference.

actually the "walrus" that was in Pingu's episode wasn't a walrus but a sea leopard. walruses live in the northern hemisphere, but penguins and sea leopards live in the southern hemisphere 😉although Pingu is a children's program, so everything is possible, like e.g. penguins live in igloos 😅

Walrus are probably the only thing that can put a hole through a Polar Bear

Those ducks look so cool

Walruses are cool in my opinion, but the way they look and their actions, I can understand where the words terrifying describes it 👌👌

Pingu was trying to warn us about the true terror of the deep.

I had no idea that walruses ate seals.

Walrus are comically obese, awkward, & harmless. Y'know, like hippos

This video and the movie Tusk have made me fear the walrus

Lemme guess. They're gigantic...and they're wild animals. And they'll tear you apart. What...a...revelation!

The one that terrified me the most was jabba the hut in return of the Jedi!!😮

While i was expecting horrifying. I wasnt expecting this.

I love Bull Walruses, if you've ever seen Bull Walrus males fight over dominance, it's some powerfully scary stuff, plus they also have harems as well, and don't fuck with a Bull Walrus and his harem.

I didn't know any of this. Now someone can make a terror movie in which possessed walruses kill divers or beach goers by sucking their brains and guts. Imagine the walrus hugging the diver like it was described with the seal, to suck his brains like a zombie. Some ship is attacked and sinks, the sailors jump to the water, and only see walruses and say "Oh, it's just walruses, not sharks". Then the whole coast of walruses rushes to the water like bloodthirsty piranhas to attack all the terrorized sailors. The carnage.

6000 raw clams in a day? That’s like twice what my uncle can eat

Sloppy toppy so intense it literally deflates your skull

It's amazing how nature can be both wonderful and terrifying . Using a seal like a juice box.

Learning that walruses are killers is just so weird to me, because they don’t look like the kind of animal that kills. Elephant seals and sea lions? Sure, they’re lithe, strong, and have doglike heads with visible sharp teeth. But walruses look silly.

Don’t get close and you’re good unless you a small fish or a clam

Wow. I know it's just nature being nature but I used to feel bad for them being eaten by polar bears. Not any more, no Sir Not that it makes me happy either, I just see them as a lot less "squidgy polar victims" now

But Pelagiarctos actually eats other pinnipeds.

Imagine Polar Bears and walrus joined forces to hunt prey? it shivers down my spine thinking about it but probably have the same relationship as lions and hyenas

I will never look at a Walrus the same again, thanks.😳

If you want a large, docile and blubbery sea mammal, manatees are the thing for you

I remember watching a few videos of Polar Bears attacking a walrus and they (the walrus) looked pretty much helpless, of course they were on Land maybe the walrus in the water would do better, but he woudl probably just swim away

There’s a fever dream of of a live action kids dog movie called 8 below. It’s where a guy has to get medivaced right before a major storm. They have to leave the dogs chained up so they don’t get lost and die as the heli can’t carry all of them. It cuts to a snowy wasteland on a bluebird morning with the caption (51 DAYS LATER) one by one the dogs wake up and crawl out of the snow that showed no signs of dogs being underneath. 8 dogs come out and shake out of their tether due to their extreme weight loss but the last two dogs on the 10 dog team don’t and it’s big sad. Sorry but no this isn’t the traumatizing bit, what is is in the middle of a serene scene of the dogs walking along the ice/shore a huge walrus the size of a truck pops out of the ice. The surviving dogs then do battle and out of the whole Traumatizing movie this is the worst part.

As they say, nature is metal. I've seen a squirrel holding a bird like an ear of corn, and eating it. Blood everywhere.

A walrus farted in my face.

If elephant seals and leopard seals are anything to go off of large pinniped species are nothing to trifle with

Hate to ask this but could you perhaps add subtitles? English isn't my first language and the automatic subtitles don't seem to pick up everything.

Walruses sound like the House Bolton of the Arctic.

Obey the walrus

Elephant seals scare me more than walrus

that was terrifying