Talk:Walrus
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What the hell?
"About 4 Atlantic walruses exist: they live in the Canadian Arctic, in the waters of Greenland, of Svalbard and of the western portion of the Russian Arctic."
surely this is wrong.
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Walrus is included in the 2006 Wikipedia CD Selection, or is a candidate for inclusion in the next version. Please maintain high quality standards and, if possible, stick to GFDL-compatible images. |
[edit] AFD count
| Date | Link | Result |
|---|---|---|
| March 2006 | [[1]] | Speedy Keep |
[edit] Not a lot of info
This article is not extremely informative. What about sizes, weights, is the male larger than the female, disposition, etc. Thedukeofno 06:26, 3 May 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Influx of immature edits
There sure has been a lot of very juvenile edits recently in this one hasn't there?--Kiyosuki 03:07, 18 December 2005 (UTC)
- Which makes me wonder...I can understand that mental retardation would have a bunch of fools (coughretardscough) vandalising it, but why does Walrus get vandalized so often? ~GMH talk to me 19:22, 20 January 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Chicago Walrus
When editing this page, this was under the Walrus in literature and music.
It just sort of stood out considering it was just...there. So I wanted to elaborate on it, maybe give it a link but I've looked on google for this and I've yet to find anything.
Could someone maybe elaborate on what Chicago Walrus is? Of if something...of whatever it is even exists? Otherwise, it should stay off the page for now. It just looks funky having the word "Chicago Walrus" just...there without any explanation.--68.233.141.149 04:28, 14 December 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Mating
the article contains the following two statements: Walruses mate in the water and Mating is probably in the water. Now, which is it?
well, the former statement is always true as long as it happens sometimes. hey, the literature part might mention the walrus and the carpenter from through the looking glass, or Sea Vitch from Rudyard Kipling's The White Seal.
[edit] Classification
According to the article Pinniped Odobenidae is a subfamily of Pinnipedia while this article claims that Odobenidae is a family. Which is true? --EnSamulili 16:17, 7 Apr 2005 (UTC)
From the article: "Rosmarus originates in the Swedish word for walrus." Are we sure about that? The Swedish word for walrus is "valross", clearly related to "walrus" but seemingly not to "rosmarus". --193.11.222.179 17:03, 8 August 2005 (UTC)
- Researching this right now (for an entry on rosmarus in la.wikt) — it's possible that 'rosmarus' might have been a Swedish word for walrus that is no longer in use. I did find that the Hungarian seems to be rozmár (though that probably isn't the original word). In Old Icelandic on word was, apparently, rosmhvalr, from which tongue-twister 'rosmar-' is easy to deduce—tho I still haven't run across evidence of it having a form in Swedish yet. —Muke Tever talk (la.wiktionary) 22:49, 22 September 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Tusks
Do both male and female walrus have tusks? I've never seen a tuskless walrus past infancy, but it just occurred to me that the females probably have absent or smaller tusks...
- Yes, they have smaller tusks. Indium 03:23, 12 November 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Feeding
There needs to be an update on feeding habits. Walruses kills and eat seals. How much of the diet consists of seals depends on the individual. This found from http://www.aftenposten.no/nyheter/miljo/article1192874.ece I've also read about this elsewhere, but can't remember where.
greetings,
Walruses eat mostly inverts such as clams. An average size male is going to eat around 75-80 pounds of food a day. They also eat fish and squid. They have highly specialized whiskers, or vibrissae, which they use to sift through the ocean floor to find their prey. They can actually use their vibrissae to pick up clams and they use incredible suction action to remove the body of the clam from the shell. It was once beleived that walruses used their tusks to crack open the shells. It is now more commonly accepted that they use their tusks to protect their mouth and throat area, much like sled runners, as they glide along the ocean floor.
[edit] AfD
MY NAME IS JAKE SMITHERS, and Walruses are my SPECIALTY! This page has been nominated for deletion; the discussion is ongoing at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Walrus. Please do not remove the notice at the top of the article page. It's important that it remain while the discussion continues. You may wish to express your opinion in the appropriate place. John Reid 02:09, 10 March 2006 (UTC) I'll close and remove that afd tag everytime it's put here due to WP:SNOW. -- ( drini's page ☎ ) 03:14, 13 March 2006 (UTC)
I just wanted to say whoever keeps putting that picture of the comical walrus in, please stop. Whenever people come to Wikipedia, they would probably most likely want to see a real walrus, not a comical picture.--Sidious1701 01:01, 11 March 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Etymology of Walrus and Rosmarus
Here is an old article on this subject. The old word is Rosmhval (as pointed out here), where "hval" means "whale", and "Rosm-" is believed to refer to red or brown. Apparently there are variants "Rosmal" ("mal" being "cod") and "Rosmar" (said to be used in Trondheim). From the latter Olaus Magnus is credited with coining the latinized form "Rosmarus" in "Historia de gentium Septentrionalium variis conditionibus" in 1555. The Online Etymology Dictionary refers to "Walrus" as being from Dutch, but that the Dutch in turn was probably a folk-etymological variant of "hrosshvalr". So the given etymology seems incomplete. --BluePlatypus 12:52, 23 March 2006 (UTC)
- "Rosmarus originates in the Swedish word for walrus." -- this is not correct. The Swedish word for walrus is valross, nothing like rosmar. Whatever the writer of this part intended, it's not getting through. I am removing the sentence for now. 138.227.189.9 13:59, 15 November 2006 (UTC)
- As this derivation of the word "walrus" ("from Dutch: wal meaning "shore", and r(e)us meaning "giant"") is clearly incorrect, I've edited the etymology in accordance with the Oxford English Dictionary entries on "walrus", "morse" and "rosmarine" (all of which mean "walrus"):
- Walrus:
- [probably a. Du. walrus (walros). Compare (i) LG. walross, G. walross (earlier also walruss, walrusch), Sw. hvalross, valross (valruss), Da. hvalros (earlier also hvalrusk), walrus; (ii) OE. horschwæl, early mod.G. rosswal, russwal, Norw. russhval, walrus, ? OFr. rohal, rohart, rochal (whence med.L. rohanlum, -allum) walrus-ivory; see RUEL.
- The forms under (i) appear to be later than those under (ii) from which they perh. arose (? in Du.) by metathesis on some analogy such as that of Du. walvisch whale.
- The interpretation of formation (ii) as ‘horse-whale’ (zoologically improbable) appears to be only one of the various popular etymologies that have influenced the forms of the word. Ultimately a confusion, either within or outside the Scandinavian languages, has perhaps taken place between ON. hrosshvalr a kind of whale, and rosmhvalr walrus. The latter is related obscurely to ON. rosmall, Norw. rosmaal, rosmaar, Da. rosmær, -er, -ar walrus, whence the scientific specific name rosmarus. See ROSMARINE2. Some scholars have connected rosm- with ON., Icel. rostungr walrus, and assumed relationship of both with ON. rau{edh}r RED. (Cf. RORQUAL and OHG. ros(a)mo redness.) This is zoologically possible, but it seems more likely that rosm- is a corruption of some non-Teut. word: cf. MORSE.]
- Morse:
- [Origin uncertain. Cf. Old Russian morz´´ (Russian morz), Saami morsâ, Finnish mursu, although these are all attested only later. Cf. French morse (1618, rare before the late 18th cent.; attested earlier in Middle French as mors (1540), and morce (c1570 in morce marin: see note below)).
- Rosmarine:
- [f. mod.L. rosmar-us (16th cent., ad. Da. rosmar), or It. and Sp. rosmaro, Pg. rosmar; the ending may have been suggested by morse marine.] 192.168.2.102 00:11, 12 January 2007 (CET)
[edit] Morphology of Walrus skull
This section contains no facts at all, and only link to an outside web page. I think this link could be kept in the link section. The picture could sit at another section, and have a description, or be removed. Either add facts and information to this section, or delete it.Shandolad 08:08, 30 March 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Major re-write?
This article could really use a major redo by someone who has done a lot of taxonomy articles and/or a walrus expert. I tried to consolidate the redunant info but it still needs a lot of help.
[edit] Walruses are no joke!!
As a champion of the Walrus, I find this article completely unacceptable. As of 12/22/06 it says the following:
- "Pacific walruses spend the summer north of Santas Workshop in the Arabian Sea "
Somebody delete this junk. I concur that the Walrus entry in Wikipedia needs a complete re-write from a Walrus expert.Let's show some repect for these gentle and wonderful creatures. Walruses are no joke people!!
RamOnTheRun 11:30, 22 December 2006 (UTC)
- Indeed, what you spotted was some vandalism. It was placed on 12/21/06, and has been removed. Stopping vandalism is an ongoing task; if you're interested in helping fight vandalism, check out WP:VAND for more information. Thanks, --TeaDrinker 18:40, 22 December 2006 (UTC)
[edit] conservation status
Given the global warming in the Arctic, perhaps the conservation status should be changed from "Least concern"DGG 20:37, 6 January 2007 (UTC)
[edit] mistake
The males reach sexual maturity around 678000 years yet some as early as 7. This must be an error, i could not correct it because i do not know the real length of time. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Dipse0 (talk • contribs) 20:01, 30 January 2007 (UTC).
- Thanks for spotting it. It appears to have been vandalism (chaning that along with the size of the population in another section). I've gone ahead and fixed it. Thanks again, --TeaDrinker 20:54, 30 January 2007 (UTC)
Also how is it possible for a walrus not to have a bladder. That seems made up. There is no reference.
[edit] Plural?
Walrie? Walruses? I'm confused. What is the actual plural form of Walrus? 172.194.248.143 22:44, 14 February 2007 (UTC)
[edit] The walrus in popular culture section
Like The Sorcerer's Apprentice, the walrus in popular culture section seems to be growing without clear indications of notability. Surely we don't intend to index every instance of a walrus appearing in music, television, film, or manuscript. I think a culling is in order. Thoughts? --TeaDrinker 05:34, 4 March 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Bladder problem in Trivia section.
The edit done 02:26, 10 October 2006 by IP Special:Contributions/65.95.155.238 [2] looks dubious. I vote cull. Ttiotsw 23:06, 28 March 2007 (UTC)
