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Walrus Heads on The Arctic Club, Seattle Washington

My son and I spent the day Saturday in Seattle, hanging out with my younger brother and his wife. Of course, the true walrus lover probably already knows where to find the walrus heads in the above picture. Yes, these are the sculptural head ringing the third floor of the Arctic Club building, downtown on Third and Cherry streets. Wikipedia tells us this:

The Arctic Building is a nine story building in Seattle, Washington located at the Northeast corner of Third Avenue and Cherry Street. The building was built for the Arctic Club in 1916 and was occupied by them from construction until the club’s dissolution in 1971. It is entirely faced with cream white terra cotta with submarine blue and orange-brown accents. It is particularly noted for the terra cotta walrus-heads lining the third floor of the building.

Here’s the link to the full Wikipedia entry.

The Arctic Club building is on the national register of historic places, and if you want the full info about this interesting structure, check out the Arctic Club page at the National Park Service’s Site, here. The Arctic Club was founded by veterans of the Klondike gold rush and members were those with Klondike or Alaskan connections. The building itself though is much older, and was once a theater. According to the blog I’m linking to in the next paragraph, the tusks on the walrus sculptures may have once been actual ivory, although this may be an urban legend.

And to keep things honest, I didn’t take this picture today – I stole it from the excellent and very interesting “Stories in Stone” Blog by David B. Williams, here’s a link to the scene of my crime, and the full blog post is worth reading. http://stories-in-stone.blogspot.com/2010/10/lions-and-tigers-and-walruses-oh-my.html

I love these types of decorative accents you find in city architecture. Next time you spend a day in Seattle, go on a walrus hunt!

How I Learned to Love The Walrus, Kindle ebook by Beth Orsoff

How dedicated am I to finding new posts for the World Wide Walrus Web? Dedicated enough to download a self-professed “Chick Lit” eBook to my Kindle, that’s how. And not just download it, but to read it too? In fact, I really enjoyed it. Now, you don’t come across a romantic comedy set in a walrus sanctuary everyday (and if you’re reading this, Jennifer Aniston/Sandra Bullock you may want to contact Ms. Orsoff and option this story right about now…) so I suppose a little information about how the story is in order.

Here’s a synposis from Beth Orsoff’s website:

When Los Angeles publicist Sydney Green convinces her boss to let her produce a documentary for the Save the Walrus Foundation, the only one Sydney Green is interested in saving is herself. The walruses are merely a means to improving her career and her love life, and not necessarily in that order. Sydney would’ve killed the project the second she learned she’d be the one having to spend a month in rural Alaska if it had been for any other client. But for rising star and sometimes boyfriend Blake McKinley, no sacrifice is ever too great.

Yet a funny thing happens on the way to the Arctic. A gregarious walrus pup, a cantankerous scientist, an Australian sex goddess, a Star Wars obsessed six-year-old, and friends and nemeses both past and present rock Sydney Green’s well-ordered world. Soon Sydney must choose between doing what’s easy and doing what’s right

I enjoyed this ebook, it’s a great fun read for your next flight or beach trip when you need some escapist storytelling, and of course, you want your story to include a liberal helping of walrus! I must admit that the main walrus fact I took away from reading this book is that, um, walrus don’t smell very good. Like not good at all. OK, they smell really bad. So bad in fact, that I want to go to a walrus sanctuary like the one in the book and check it out for myself.

Beth Orsoff’s website is at http://www.bethorsoff.com and she has a facebook page as well. I should point out that I emailed Beth about doing this posting, and not only did she link to the World Wide Walrus Web from her Facebook page, but she sent me a very friendly reply. Makes me feel good about spending my three bucks on her book!

Here’s a link to buy the ebook on Amazon.com
How I Learned to Love the Walrus (an Arctic Romantic Comedy)

Here’s a link to a nice interview on ebookhighlights.com: Beth Orsoff on Walruses and love matters

Monthly Meta for April

Hi new readers and returning visitors and thanks for all the traffic in this last month. Each month traffic to the WWWW has grown, and this month has been our best so far. I truly appreciate all the visits and appreciation that has been shown to this little blog by all of you. I enjoy maintaining it. And, with something like $1.15 in Adsense revenue for April (seriously), I can take the bus to my real job for free! Once. And not round trip. 🙂

Good thing I don’t expect to make money with this site!

Once again Chumley the walrus has ruled our search terms although lately I’ve gotten quite a lot of searches for “walrus sounds” which have led to my two posts one the subject. I notice a lot of searches for “Nereus” and related terms this month, so I suspect the Nereus episode of Growing Up… was on Animal Planet at some point.

Are you on Facebook? I haven’t yet built a Facebook page for the WWWW (it’s in progress though) but I was turned on to a great Facebook group called the Walrus Appreciation Society. Great content and good folks there. Check it out.

Are you following the @walrusweb on Twitter?

Thanks again, and there’s more great content coming in May.

OK, How about a papercraft walrus?

We’ve posted about an Origami Walrus, and now thanks to the Canadian Design Resource Website, we can add a papercraft walrus to the blog!

Note that this link eventually leads to an order form for the pattern/instructions which will run you $6 for the walrus, or $25 for the entire set of 5 animals (black bear, polar bear, buffalo, moose, walrus). The video at the link below is well worth watching.

Here’s a link to the Post.. http://www.canadiandesignresource.ca/officialgallery/symbols/canadian-animal-series-paper/

And our post about Donya Quick’s origami walrus gets a lot of traffic, so here’s that link as well: http://www.worldwidewalrusweb.com/2010/11/20/origami-walrus-why-not/

Mary River Mine: Another Challenge to Walrus Habitat

Obviously, walrus already face a number of challenges related to habitat and sea ice loss related to global climate change. But of course, development and human activity have just as great an impact on walrus. Here’s a recent example – Baffinland Iron Mine Co’s Mary River Mine. The proposed mine is to be located on Baffin Island and according to the recently files Environmental Imact Statement, mining activities will have an impact on local species including (Pacific) Walrus. The impact on species including Arctic Char,  Pacific Walrus and numerous other mammals is alleged to be “negligible,” “small in magnitude” and “fully reversible” – however the EIS concedes that “walrus habitat will change for the life of the Project as a result of the footprint of the dock structures”, which sounds like more than a “negligible” impact to this blogger.

The local paper, Nunatsiaq Online, has the full story at this link: “Nunavut’s Mary River mine could disrupt water, Arctic char and walrus”.

Robot Walruses On Display… Well, not really…

This exchange was posted on the Not Always Right blog

(I work in the walrus exhibit at the park answering questions about the animals. One of our four walruses has metal caps on her teeth because she scrapes them on the ground constantly.)

Guest: “Hey, I have a question about the walrus with the metal teeth.”

Me: “Ah, yes. That is an interesting story! See, she–”

Guest: “So, why is that walrus a robot?”

Me: “Sorry, what? A robot?”

Guest: “Yeah, that’s the only one with metal teeth. You can tell it is a robot. Why would you put a robot walrus in with the real ones? Or are they all robots?”

Yeeaaah….  Not Always Right (from the saying “The Customer is NOT Always Right) is a humor blog collected anecdotes from the world of customer service.

What does a Walrus Sound Like, 2.0

I originally posted on this topic some months ago here (What Does a Walrus Sound Like?) but I just now discovered a great new interview via NOVA Science Now that will really give you a complete picture of the types of sounds a walrus makes. This is from the walruses at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo, CA – where you may be aware they are awaiting the imminent and very rare birth of a walrus calf! This is a great audio/photo feature.

The interactive feature is packed with GORGEOUS walrus photos, lots of info thanks to trainer Leah Coombs of Six Flags and Dr. Colleen Reichmuth of UC Santa Cruz. This is old, it’s from ’09 but it’s new to me, and likely new to you too. Sivuqaq and Uquq, two of the featured walruses, are today’s expectant parents!

Here’s the link to the interview (transcript and audio) over at PBS.com/Nova

And that’s what a Walrus sounds like.

Walrus pic of the day!

Oh man, check this out! I found this on a search engine, and I don’t know who to credit it to – if you know where this picture came from, let me know. According to the caption, this walrus is sleeping on a Russian submarine. Look that the SIZE of this guy!