Last Signal on Electronically Tagged Walruses Fades

Last April, researchers tagged several walruses to see if the electronic tracking devices would reveal the secret of where the noisy mammals go for the summer months.

The tagged west Greenland walruses varied in gender and ranged from 4-20 years. Of the eight that were tagged only one active device survived with ground control losing signal from the other seven quite early on in the experiment.

Walrus number two was the last remaining signal visible to the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources, who conducted the research with cooperation from the Danish National Environmental Research Institute and the Technical University of Denmark.

The device showed that the 12 year old female, accompanied by her yearling calf, after tagging at Hellefiske Bank went on to travel more than 300 miles to Baffin Island.

Biologists at the Greenland Institute said that while they were pleased the signal remained active that they could not form any conclusive results as they could not base a migration pattern on one animal alone.

Walrus four travelled north to Disco Island but signal was lost quite early on in the study and so, researchers have no way of telling if he then travelled to the Baffin Island or Baffin Bay area.

Genetic Research has shown that west Greenland walruses and walruses along the coast of Canada display certain similarities and researchers did come across another one of the tagged walruses in Baffin Bay while searching for Walrus two.

The team have since tagged more walruses in Baffin Bay to see if they will migrate back to West Greenland for the winter months.

The data will help discern the impacts of hunting, oil exploration and climate change on the animals.