Tens Of Thousands Of Walruses Come Ashore As Sea Ice Melts Off Alaska

The walruses have been gathering, or “hauling out,” near Point Lay, a small village on Alaska’s northern coast about eight hours by plane from Anchorage. Andrea Medeiros, a spokesperson for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, told BuzzFeed News that observers found about 35,000 walruses on Sept. 2 during an aerial survey.

Authorities flew back over the beach Thursday and estimated there were between 15,000 and 20,000 walruses, though Medeiros said the estimates were rough

because they were made from an airplane. The numbers also rise and fall as the animals come and go for feeding.

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Other big haul outs happened in 2010, 2011, 2013, and 2014, according to the FWS. Large events also happened in the 1930s and 1970s, but FWS reported that the current haul out is unusual for “its timing, location, and number of animals involved.”

According to data from the National Snow and Ice Data Center, the amount of sea ice reported that this year “is likely to be the third or fourth lowest in the satellite record.” 

currently in the Arctic is well below average. Though there’s more ice cover than at this time in 2012, NSID

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