IMMOBILIZING AND INSTRUMENTING WALRUSES ON ICE FLOWS--1988
In 1988, I was fortunate to be able to participate in the first effort to immobilize female walruses on ice flows of the Chukchi Sea. The project was headed by a then graduate student, Sue Hills, at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. The goal was to deploy satellite transmitters on female walruses. Although a decade has gone by since that effort, we are now thinking about returning to the arctic to again study female walruses. Here are some pictures that show our 1988 experience. They will give an idea of what it is like to immobilize and instrument female walruses on the ice.
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The arctic is a beautiful place to visit and to work, with sights such as a rack of seal strips drying, |
or a sunset over floating pieces of ice. |
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A skin boat, or "umiak" frame rests next to an old whaleboat. |
Is this sunset or sunrise? For part of the summer, you can only tell the difference by looking at your watch. |
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We used local guides to help us find walruses. The sought out the highest places to look and listen for walruses. |
The most popular boat is a 16 foot aluminum skiff. It has the advantage of being able to be driven up on an ice flow or onto a beach. |
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Walruses were found on ice flows near the edge of the ice sheet. The were crowded together |
on ice flows in groups of three to 100 animals. |
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This was a typical group that we approached to |
dart. The darting distances were quite small. |
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Sometimes the animal wouldn't even raise its head when darted. |
Once anesthetized, the boat would approach to shoo away the rest of the walruses. |
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Here, a satellite transmitter is being applied to a walrus whose body is actually in the water. |
Walrus calves will sometimes hitch a ride on mom's back. |
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We tried stalking the walruses across large ice flows, but they were too wary of any thing coming from that direction. Too much like a polar bear? |
Sometimes the walruses wouldn't let us get close to them using the skiff, either. Here, a group jumps into the water. |
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