Year 7 Report Writing

Introduction

The Pacific walrus (or Odobenus Rosmarus Divergens) is a large pinniped mammal that is located (in winter) around pack ice in the Bering sea, or near St. Lawrence island and Bristol bay. In spring and summer they migrate north into the Chukoi sea, following the retreating sea ice.

Appearance

The Pacific walrus grows up to a range of 2.7 -- 3.6 meters and weighs 800 to 1700 kg in males with a length of 2.3 -- 3.1 metres and 400 -- 1250 kg for females. Walrus have a rounded, large body with a thick, tough hide that measures about 2.5 -- 4 cm thick and a large layer of thick blubber to keep warm. Both males and females have large upper canine teeth that grow up to about 1 meter in length, these are used to climb up onto the ice and for social combat with others.

Adaptations

The walrus also has a broad muzzle with 400 -- 700 short, stiff and extremely sensitive whiskers containing nerve endings that help them to locate clams and mollusks on the seafloor. Instead of chewing up the shellfish that they sometimes eat, they seal their lips against the shell and retract their massive tongue like a piston, this creates a massive vacuum that sucks the meat clean out of the shell. To survive the freezing water that they swim in, they constrict blood vessels in their skin to push the warm blood inwards to protect their internal organs. The walrus also has a pair of inflatable air sacks called pharyngeal pouches on either side of their esophagus. By filling these pouches with air, they can sleep floating vertically in the water without drowning, or use them as resonance chambers to make bell-like noises.

Diet

The Pacific walrus is a benthic carnivore, this means that the walrus eats meat (carnivore) and that it hunts not on the surface, or swimming around above the seafloor, but on the seafloor itself. The actual diet consists of mostly molluscs such as clams and mussels, that can make up about 95 percent of their total food intake. The rest of the diet usually consists of marine worms, soft-shell crabs, shrimp, sea cucumbers, and octopuses.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the Pacific walrus is an interesting and complex animal that has many cool and interesting adaptations, from hunting to sleeping, this animal is incredible in every way. By Carter

Beluga whale report

Delphinapterus leucas also known as the beluga whale.

It lives in the cold Arctic and Subarctic waters, Us (Alaska), Canada, Russia and Greenland. In Summer they move to warmer shallow coastal bays and in winter they move to packed ice areas.

The beluga whale grows to 3-5m long, Males longer than females. They are born grey/brown and their skin colour changes to white over time, To camouflage better in the snow and ice. Beluga whales are also well known for the big bump on their forehead also known as a melon. They also have no dorsal fin to swim under the ice smoothly, thick blubber to keep warm and have very short and wide flippers.

They swim in pods of up to 25 individuals. They use echolocation to communicate and find their prey. The beluga whale moves by using powerful strokes of their tails and steering with their paddle like flippers. When a predator comes hunting for beluga whales they camouflage into the ice and snow to protect themself.

Beluga whales eat octopus, squid, crabs, snails, cod, herring and flounder.They grab the prey with their peg-like teeth and swallow the prey whole.

Did you know? Beluga whales can swim backwards as easily as they swim forwards! They can also dive down more than 1000 feet!?.

Marley

Giant Squid

Imagine you are in a submarine, chilling in the cockpit when you see

a large eye staring right at you. That is the eye of the giant squid, it

is one of the largest molluces of all time and has the largest eye of anything on earth

Appearance

It is both creepy, yet cool. The giant squid is one of the largest moving molluscs alive , it can grow up to 13 meters long ,with 10 meter long tentacles and arms. These tentacles and arms are topped with sharp toothed suction cups that leaves some nasty scars and cuts. The parrot styled beak is as large as a dinner plate and is strong enough to crush a crab into sushi.

Diet/ eating habits

Giant squids are a ferocious hunter, this is why people and many fish speices are terrified of it. It starts by finding a school of jellyfish( weird habit but it uses jellyfish as bioluminescence) after that the giant squid extends it’s arms to catch then hold it’s prey before shoving it into the beak to be crushed and digested.

Reproduction

Males use a long, prehensile organ to inject sperm packets (spermatophores) directly into the female's soft tissue or arms. Females then release massive gelatinous masses containing millions of tiny fertilised eggs before dying.

Interesting fact

1.An estimated 4.3 to 131 million giant squids are eaten in a year by sperm whales.

• A giant squid’s brain is doughnut shaped brain and has 3 hearts.

• It is stupid enough to fight sperm whale and they lose because they don’t have that kind of strength to overpower their arch nemesis.

Predators

The giant squid isn’t the only predator in the ocean. The giant squid has predators too, such as the sperm whale, sleeper shark and pilot whale.

Conclusion

The giant squid is a fabulous and frightening creature, that terrifies and fascinates people around the world. It has many fascinating features, eats a variety of different foods, and amazing facts. In conclusion the giant squid is amazing arctic animal and is one of the most terrifying arctic animals ever.

by Cooper