Walrus Lifespan Chart

Last winter I watched a short clip of a walrus hauled out on a slab of Arctic ice. The narrator said the animal was close to forty years old. That number stuck with me for days.

I had always guessed a walrus lived fifteen or twenty years, about the same as a big dog. I was off by half. These animals age more like elephants than like dogs.

The walrus lifespan is one of the longest among Arctic marine mammals. A healthy wild walrus reaches thirty to forty years. A few live past forty. One thing surprised me.

Most animals live longer in captivity, safe from predators and hunger. The walrus does not. Few captive walruses pass thirty years. Their aging in tanks is still not fully studied.

So how long does a walrus live, and why do the subspecies differ? I checked the IUCN Red List, Animal Diversity Web, and aging databases. Then I compared them with the brief I started with. Here is what the records show, from calf to old age.

Walrus Lifespan at a Glance

The walrus is one species, Odobenus rosmarus. It splits into two subspecies and one disputed third. The table below shows wild and captive lifespan, the oldest verified ages, and a short note on each.

How Long Do Walruses Live in the Wild?

Most sources put the wild walrus lifespan at thirty to forty years. National Geographic and the Seal Conservation Society report that walruses can reach at least forty. Animal Diversity Web gives the same wild range. It notes that calves rarely die young, because females stay close and protect them.

Scientists read a walrus’s age from its teeth. They count growth layers in the lower canines, like rings in a tree. Wild Atlantic walruses have shown more than thirty-five layers. That is how we know they live into their fourth decade. To see how marine mammals compare, the types of whales guide covers species that outlive the walrus by decades.

Walrus Lifespan in Captivity

Here is the part that broke my assumption. Most animals live longer in a zoo than in the wild. The walrus is an exception. The AnAge database has not set a maximum captive age for the species. It records one wild-born walrus that reached 30.6 years in a tank. Animal Diversity Web reports captive walruses living up to thirty years.

Why no gain? Few aquariums have kept walruses long enough to build solid aging data. Captive animals face their own risks. These include tusk infections, swallowed objects, and stress between mothers and calves. So a captive walrus does not outlive a wild one. That is rare for a large mammal.

The Two Walrus Subspecies, and a Disputed Third

The size and population gap between the subspecies is large. The Pacific walrus is heavier and far more common. The Atlantic walrus is smaller in both ways. The Laptev population was once named a third subspecies. Most experts now fold it into the Pacific walrus.

Studies of mitochondrial DNA and skull shape point the same way. They suggest the Laptev walrus is not a true third subspecies. It is the western edge of the Pacific group. The IUCN Pinniped Specialist Group agrees. Both surviving subspecies share Arctic seas with polar bears, which you can read about in the all bear species guide.

Walrus Life Stages by Age

A walrus grows slowly and breeds late. That is one reason the species recovers poorly from heavy hunting. The stages below trace a life from birth to old age.

What Affects How Long a Walrus Lives

Predators take a toll. Polar bears and orcas hunt calves and weak adults. Fights between breeding males raise male deaths. A walrus that survives its first years tends to live long. Adults have few natural enemies.

Human pressure matters more. Hunters took walruses for ivory and blubber in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Subsistence hunting still goes on today. Sea ice loss adds strain, since walruses rest on ice between dives. Disease and tusk infection cut some lives short. House cats are bred for long indoor lives, as the cat lifespan chart shows. Walruses instead depend on a cold, ice-covered ocean.

Atlantic vs Pacific Walrus

The two subspecies live about as long. They differ in size, range, and status. The table below puts them side by side.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long do walruses live on average?

Most wild walruses live thirty to forty years. A few live past forty. That makes the walrus one of the longest-lived Arctic marine mammals.

Do walruses live longer in the wild or in captivity?

In the wild, which is unusual. Captive aging is poorly recorded. Most captive walruses reach only thirty years, while wild ones live longer.

What is the oldest recorded walrus?

Wild walruses have been aged at more than thirty-five tooth layers. Several sources report ages above forty years. No exact maximum has been set.

How do scientists measure a walrus’s age?

They count yearly growth layers in the lower canine teeth. It works like counting rings in a tree trunk.

Which walrus subspecies lives longest?

Both reach about thirty to forty years. The Pacific walrus is larger and more common, but size adds no years here.

Why do walruses have such a long lifespan?

Adult walruses are huge and travel in herds. They have few predators beyond polar bears and orcas. They also breed slowly and mature late. Other cold-water animals share this pattern, like the types of sea turtles that live for decades.

Are walruses endangered?

The IUCN lists the walrus as Vulnerable. The Atlantic subspecies is Near Threatened. The Pacific subspecies is Data Deficient. For other cold-climate animals under pressure, see the types of penguins guide and the types of dolphins guide.

Sources for this chart include the IUCN Red List walrus assessment, Animal Diversity Web, and the AnAge longevity database.