Walrus currently in captivity

Could that be the reason why polar bears aren't easy to breed in captivity either?

 

Eh, possibly. Bears are not my personal area of interest, nor have I worked with them, so my knowledge base isn't quite so great with them.

I think with the more southern bears location does play a role to an extent, however I think a lot of it has to do with the ages of the bears (especially the females) as well.

 

Polar bears are not inherently difficult to breed in captivity. In the United States they bred incredibly well before the 1990's, to the point that they were over capacity. As a result, many zoos began sterilizing males, then putting females on hormonal implants; these actions led to a population decline that, coupled with import restrictions, turned into the current population crash.

 

So basically, the polar bear breeding program became a victim of its own success?

 

In a way, yes. Today zoos utilize more effective and reversible ways of limiting population growth (separate enclosures, not holding opposite-sex animals, exporting to other zoos or regions) but in the 1990's population oversight was largely nonexistent and most zoos didn't have multiple enclosures per species.

 

I see. (My God this thread got off topic. Best we end here to leave room for more walrus news, and hope and pray that SeaWorld Orlando has a new healthy walrus calf soon.)

 

There is a movie (Google says: episode of TV series) "Walrus: Two Tonne Tusker" about attempts of breeding walrus in Six Flags Discovery Kingdom. As for me, it worth watching, though it is too "popular".

 

Thanks @callorhinus for the episode recommendation and @Crowthorne for the link to the episode's website. The episode, Walrus: Two Tonne Tusker, was quite fascinating as it focused on the science of walrus reproduction and Six Flags Discovery Kingdom's efforts to breed walruses. It's unfortunate that Six Flags Discovery Kingdom was unsuccessful and that Sivuqaq passed away in June of 2015. However, it's uplifting to know that Uquq now resides at SeaWorld San Diego where it's hopeful that she and Dozer will breed in the near future.

 

I've written something on another thread, that will probably make me unpopular and maybe I'll even have to pay a high price for it.
I thought about it for a long time and decided to do it now anyway.
Maybe we should also discuss that at this point.
I'm curious...

Captive walruses with tusks

 

Overview of the captive walrus population in the past three months:

Spoiler: Captures, Transfers, & Deaths:

1.5 walrus calves were captured and are currently residing at the Centre for Marine Mammal Adaptation in Srednyaya Bay, Russia
Walrus Network - Center for Marine Mammal Adaptation

0.1 Izumi was transferred from Toba Aquarium to Umitamago Aquarium on March 20, 2019.

0.1 Mii was transferred from the Umitamago Aquarium to the Toba Aquarium on March 22, 2019.
Walrus Breeding Transfers - March 22, 2019 | Umitamago Aquarium

Eleven month old 1.0 Rūku passed away between March 23 and April 2, 2019 at Kamogawa Sea World.
Walrus Network - Rūku

Additional walruses added to captive population. Current captive population of walruses as of April 2019:

Spoiler: Captive Walrus Population - April 2019:

SeaWorld San Diego - San Diego, California, USA
1.0 Dozer (Illiyak x Tumuk) 1993.06.21
1.0 Mitik 2012.00.00
0.1 Uquq 1994.00.00
0.1 Chouchou (Takku x Mikku) 2010.05.05

SeaWorld Orlando - Orlando, Florida, USA
1.0 Garfield 1982.00.00
1.0 Aku 2017.00.00
0.1 Slowpoke 1977.00.00
0.1 Kaboodle (Obie x Kitkatska) 2003.05.01
0.1 Ginger (Garfield x Kaboodle) 2017.06.03

Indianapolis Zoo - Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
1.0 Pakak 2012.00.00
0.1 Aurora 1995.00.00

Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium - Tacoma, Washington, USA
0.1 Basilla 1983.00.00
0.1 Kulusiq 1994.00.00
0.1 Joan 1995.00.00

Vancouver Aquarium - Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
1.0 Balzak (Boris x Samka) 2016.05.23
0.1 Lakina (Boris x Arnaliaq) 2016.05.07

Marineland of Canada - Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada
1.0 Apollo 2001.00.00
0.1 Smooshi 2004.00.00

Aquarium du Québec - Quebec City, Québec, Canada
1.0 Boris 2005.00.00
0.1 Arnaliaq 2003.00.00

Tierpark Hagenbeck - Hamburg, Germany
1.0 Odin 1996.00.00
1.0 Thor (Odin x Dyna) 2014.06.15
0.1 Dyna 1996.00.00
0.1 Polosa 1996.00.00
0.1 Raisa (Igor x Rossita) 2004.06.22

Dolfinarium Harderwijk - Harderwijk, Netherlands
1.0 Nikolai (Igor x Olga) 1995.06.17
0.1 Olga 1982.00.00
0.1 Rossita 1995.00.00
0.1 Olivia (Odin x Polosa) 2008.07.04

Oceanogràfic Valencia - Valencia, Spain
0.1 Ninotchka 2003.00.00
0.1 Petrushka 2003.00.00
0.1 Tanya 2003.00.00

Moskvarium - Moscow, Russia
0.1 Klava 2011.00.00
0.1 Lora 2011.00.00
0.1 Yeva 2011.00.00

Yaroslavl Dolphinarium - Yaroslavl, Russia
1.0 Potap 2013.00.00
0.1 Nastya 2013.00.00

Primorsky Aquarium - Vladivostok, Russia
1.0 Misha 2010.00.00

St. Petersburg Dolphinarium - St. Petersburg, Russia
1.0 Svyatogor 2012.00.00
0.1 Sonya 2002.00.00
0.1 Frosya 2016.00.00

Center of Oceanography & Marine Biology - Novosibirsk, Russia
0.1 Tika 2010.00.00

Anapa Dolphinarium - Anapa, Russia
0.1 Nyusha 2007.00.00

Gelendzhik Dolphinarium - Gelendzhik, Russia
0.1 Antonina 2006.00.00

Morskaya Zvezda Dolphinarium - Sochi, Russia
1.0 Funtic 2013.00.00
1.0 Benya 2013.00.00

Aquatoria - Yalta, Russia
1.0 Saltan 2004.00.00

Udmurtia Zoo - Izhevsk, Russia
1.0 Enurmin 2006.00.00
0.1 Eva 2006.00.00
0.1 Neseyka 2007.00.00

Centre for Marine Mammal Adaptation - Srednyaya Bay, Russia
1.0 Unknown 2018.00.00
0.1 Unknown 2018.00.00
0.1 Unknown 2018.00.00
0.1 Unknown 2018.00.00
0.1 Unknown 2018.00.00
0.1 Unknown 2018.00.00

Xiaomeisha Sea World - Shenzhen, Guangdong, China
1.0 Wangzi 2010.00.00

Harbin Polarland - Harbin, Heilongjiang, China
1.0 Yinou 2009.00.00
0.1 Yiwa 2009.00.00

Dalian Laohutan Ocean Park - Dalian, Liaoning, China
0.1 Aida 2012.00.00
0.1 Lisa 2012.00.00

Royal Ocean Park - Fushun, Liaoning, China
1.0 Adam 2005.00.00
0.1 Gelusha 2005.00.00
0.1 Doris (Adam x Gelusha) 2017.06.13

Shendiao Mountain Wildlife Park - Rongcheng, Shandong, China
1.0 Anan 2004.00.00
0.1 Pingping 2004.00.00

Shenyou Sea World - Weihai, Shandong, China
1.0 Gavryusha 2008.00.00

Haichang Whale Shark Ocean Park - Yantai, Shandong, China
1.0 Aosika 2013.00.00

Shanghai Haichang Ocean Park - Putuo, Shanghai, China
1.0 Luobote 2000.00.00
0.1 Feier 2001.00.00

Haichang Polar Ocean Park - Chengdu, Sichuan, China
1.0 Badun 2004.00.00

Changqiao Polar Ocean Park - Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
0.1 Marus 2011.00.00

Ningbo Ocean World - Ningbo, Zhejiang, China
0.1 Dudu 2009.00.00

Ocean Park Hong Kong - Wong Chuk Hang, Hong Kong
1.0 Rock (Takku x Mukku) 2003.06.01
0.1 Miru 1999.00.00

Minamichita Beach Land - Mihama, Aichi, Japan
1.0 Kikku (Takku x Mukku) 1997.05.27
0.1 Sakura 1998.00.00

Kamogawa Sea World - Kamogawa, Chiba, Japan
1.0 Takku 1983.00.00
1.0 Riku (Takku x Mikku) 2013.04.23
0.1 Mina (Takku x Mikku) 2007.05.20
0.1 Riru (Takku x Mikku) 2016.05.01

Otaru Aquarium - Otaru, Hokkaido, Japan
1.0 Uchio 1990.00.00
0.1 Urya 1991.00.00
0.1 Shizuku (Uchio x Urya) 2016.04.06

Kinosaki Marine World - Toyooka, Hyōgo, Japan
0.1 Guri 1997.00.00
0.1 Sora 2005.00.00

Hakkeijima Sea Paradise - Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan
1.0 Seita 1991.00.00
0.1 Uchi 1991.00.00
0.1 Piko 1995.00.00
0.1 Moko 1995.00.00
0.1 Ako 2002.00.00

Ise Sea Paradise - Ise, Mie, Japan
0.1 Himawari 2001.00.00
0.1 Tanpopo 2003.00.00

Toba Aquarium - Toba, Mie, Japan
1.0 Pou 2005.00.00
0.1 Mii 2001.00.00
0.1 Kuu 2005.00.00
0.1 Tsurara (Uchio x Urya) 2009.05.31

Umitamago Aquarium - Ōita, Ōita, Japan
0.1 Bubu 2001.00.00
0.1 Izumi 2005.00.00

Izu Mito Sea Paradise - Numazu, Shizuoka, Japan
0.1 Snow 2003.00.00

Aqua Planet Ilsan - Goyang, Gyeonggi, South Korea
0.1 Meli 2010.00.00

Aqua Planet Jeju - Seogwipo, Jeju, South Korea
0.1 Barya 2005.00.00

Dolphin World - Hurghada, Egypt
0.1 Lila 2009.00.00

Dolphin Park - Kish, Hormozgan, Iran
0.1 Donya 2009.00.00

Istanbul Dolphinarium - Istanbul, Turkey
1.0 Lolik 2004.00.00
0.1 Sara 2004.00.00

The Land of Legends Theme Park - Kadriye, Turkey
0.1 Silva 2003.00.00

A shout out to @Walrus Network for their hard work and dedication to research and compile all the information on walruses in captivity! Your database has significantly improved the thread and I'm extremely grateful for that!

 

One more walrus since sunday in germany, "Polosa"at Hagenbeck gave birth to a healthy male calf. Both are behind the scenes and doing well, the calf has drunk already one hour after the birth.

So hopefully, he will grow up.

 

0.1 Polosa gave birth to a male calf on May 5, 2019 at Tierpark Hagenbeck. The sire is 1.0 Odin (Tierpark Hagenbeck).
Gewichtige Überraschung im Eismeer | Tierpark Hagenbeck

The birth is very significant for the European population as only ten walruses have been born in Europe. Unfortunately, only four, excluding the recent calf, have survived past infancy. In addition, the birth is very significant for Tierpark Hagenbeck as this marks the fourth walrus birth. Sadly, the only calf to survive past infancy was 1.0 Thor (2014.06.15) as 0.1 Loki (2015.06.05) passed away in August 2017 and 1.0 Unnamed (2018.06.17) passed away in August 2018. Fortunately, the keepers are optimistic for the future of the new calf as he's nursing well and appears very robust.

 

Loki was born sick and didn't have a chance to live long.
The mistake was -in my opinion- to play down her illness in the public. Everyone knew, that in fact she was life-threatening ill.

He was a wonderful walrus. I'll never forget him... The Problem was 0.1 Dyna, his mother. When she gave birth, she was sick and unable to give any milk to him. Nevertheless at first he developed fine. But then he no longer tolerated his substitute food and everything went wrong.

0.1 Polossa is a proven and experienced mother. It's her 3rd calf. So I hope that everything will be well this time.

Congratulation to 0.1 Polosa, 1.0 Odinnadtsatyi (that's his real name, he recieved at Moscow Zoo) and the whole Eismeer-Team at Tierpark Hagenbeck!

 

AMAZING NEWS!!!

0.1 Kaboodle gave birth to a female calf on July 3, 2019 at SeaWorld Orlando. The sire is 1.0 Garfield (SeaWorld Orlando).
Baby Walrus Born at SeaWorld Orlando | WTSP

The birth is very significant for the North American population as only nineteen walruses reside at seven institutions in Canada and the United States. Further, the birth is very important for captive walrus reproduction as the new calf, Ginger, and Aku will be able to form a breeding group once they have reached sexual maturity. Congratulations to SeaWorld Orlando on another successful birth!

Have there been any updates on Arnaliaq's pregnancy at Aquarium du Québec?

 

This is one extremely adorable baby! SeaWorld’s baby walrus is learning how to swim without mom’s help

 

Aquarium Du Quebec announced that they know Arnaliaq's pregnancy will not be successful. There is a post on their facebook page explaining things more but I don't speak French so I have no idea what has happened. The google translate version of their post says Arnaliaq is doing well.

 

I visited the aquarium August 3rd, and I can confirm that both are well.

 

Both?

 

I meant to say, if the pregnancy was in trouble, how could both mother and calf be fine? I'm confused!