---
title: "Walrus"
description: "Odobenus rosmarus — Mammals. The walrus (Odobenus rosmarus; plural walrus or walruses) is a large pinniped marine mammal with discontinuous distribution about the North Pole in the Arctic Ocean and subarctic seas of the Northern Hemisphere."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/animal/walrus
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Walrus

> Odobenus rosmarus — Mammals. The walrus (Odobenus rosmarus; plural walrus or walruses) is a large pinniped marine mammal with  discontinuous distribution about the North Pole in the Arctic Ocean and subarctic seas of the Northern Hemisphere.

- Scientific name: *Odobenus rosmarus*
- Category: `mammals` (Mammals)
- Habitats: `sea` (Sea & coast), `arctic` (Arctic)
- iNaturalist observations: 1630
- Wikidata: [Q40994](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q40994)
- iNaturalist taxon: [41766](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/41766)

## Names

- en: Walrus
- de: Walross
- es: Morsa
- fr: Morse
- it: Tricheco
- nl: Walrus
- pt: Morsa
- pl: Mors arktyczny

## Countries with the most observations

SJ (817), CA (92), RU (75), US (65), GB (32), FR (11), GL (11), NO (9), DK (7), NL (5)

## Summary

The walrus (Odobenus rosmarus; plural walrus or walruses) is a large pinniped marine mammal with  discontinuous distribution about the North Pole in the Arctic Ocean and subarctic seas of the Northern Hemisphere. It is the only extant species in the family Odobenidae and genus Odobenus. This species is subdivided into two subspecies: the Atlantic walrus (O. r. rosmarus), which lives in the Atlantic Ocean, and the Pacific walrus (O. r. divergens), which lives in the Pacific Ocean.
Adult walrus are characterised by prominent tusks and whiskers, and considerable bulk; adult males in the Pacific can weigh more than 2…

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walrus

## Photo

![Walrus](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/walrus/medium.jpg)

Photo: Iain Robson · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/101121406

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/walrus?lang=en` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).