The Walrus is one of the Arctic’s most enigmatic animals. These super social mammals depend on sea ice in ways which we are only just beginning to understand.
Kirk has a real passion for walrus. There’s something about these lumbering giants, with their three-foot long tusks and droopy moustaches, that is endearing. Everyone knows what these marine mammals look like, but few ever see them in the wild.
In the Arctic seas between Alaska and Russia 250,000 walrus congregate. In Spring, when the sea ice begins to melt, females and their calves migrate north on floating ice platforms, while the males head to nearby beaches. One of their favourite spots is Round Island, where hundreds of exhausted males come ashore to huddle together and warm up for their summer break.
Walrus feed from vast clam beds beneath the Bering Sea. They dive down to suck them from the seabed, but as the melting sea ice drifts further north, the females drift into deeper water, beyond the clam beds. This forces females and calves to come ashore in increasingly huge numbers, where they risk being crushed by larger males. Kirk follows the fate of one young orphan, who is rescued and rehabilitated at the Alaska Sealife Center. What kind of future lies ahead for her, and for the walruses in the wild?
| Executive Producer & Director | David Dugan |
| Producer & Director | Alex Tate |
| Editor | Cassandra Roberts |
| Assistant Producer | Ruth Harries |
| Director of Photography | George Woodcock |
| Line Producer | Farne Sinclair |
| Production Coordinator | Sophie Hadley |