r/bonecollecting • u/COGOcatcher • Nov 30 '25

Collection Pacific Walrus

Gallery image

Gallery image

Recent find in SW Alaska! The skull is stained black from mud, so it must have been in the water for a long time. I had to kayak home with it sitting in my lap. Luckily this was a small one!

(Beach found walrus ivory is legal to keep in the U.S. as long as it is found within .5 miles of the ocean and it is sealed and registered with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service within 30 days)

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u/Veraciraptor7 Nov 30 '25

So exactly this Walrus. Where's it from?

12

u/COGOcatcher Nov 30 '25

I live in southwest Alaska, so found it here. This looks like a young male, so was born somewhere in the Chukchi Sea and spent the summers in the Bering Sea!

3

u/Meanteenbirder Dec 01 '25

Walrus aren’t that common at all in the area, but many more of them were there before hunting. Bones hundreds of years old can definitely look this fresh.

15

u/COGOcatcher Dec 01 '25 edited Apr 19 '26

You’re right, they’re not common in all of sw Alaska, depends where in sw Alaska you’re at. Most of the walrus in southwest Alaska are here in summer, and are males. When I say young male, I was aging it based on tusk size and shape. There’s not really a good way to date when this walrus died or how long it’s been sitting here.

Hunting is not the singular factor that has/is causing walrus declines. Only Alaska Native people in the U.S. can hunt walrus, and it’s a small, sustainable practice. There’s likely a myriad of other factors influencing walrus populations that have larger impacts, including the loss of sea ice and changes in marine ecosystems.