#walrus tusk

[ltwilliammowett]

A scrimshawed walrus tusk ring made by an Inuk, 1960s

[arthistoryanimalia]

For a belated #InternationalChessDay:

Chess set made by Inuit artist Pacome Qulaut, 1960 slate & walrus tusk Museum of Anthropology

In each colour there are: 1 large walrus figure w/diamonds around base of pedestal (white piece has inlaid black stone in a band around top of pedestal & at centre of each diamond around base); 1 smaller walrus with bands around base of pedestal; 2 bears; 2 deer; 2 igloos; and 8 birds. All of the figures are at the top of a pedestal base.

[rjzimmerman]

In warming Alaska, Pacific walruses and Inuit craftsmen find themselves facing new and intersecting threats.

This article is all about the potential decimation of the Pacific walrus herds due to the loss of ice, poaching and the use of the tusks for artistic purposes by the native Alaskan peoples. Complicated story, focusing on the intersection of climate change, the walrus and Native Americans.

Excerpt from this story from The Revelator:

“You don’t want to get it from headhunters,” Leon Kinneeveauk tells me as we maneuver around his crowded art studio in downtown Anchorage. Tools, bones, and unfinished carvings extend over every work surface, covered in a thin layer of white dust.

Kinneeveauk, an Inupiaq artist who specializes in carving walrus ivory, grew up in the remote Point Hope, a northwestern Alaskan village accessible only by plane or boat. His Anchorage gallery, Arctic Treasures, is a trove of work of master craftsmen from around the state. At the back of the shop, which he took over from its previous owner last year, is a growing studio space where he and artists work on native handicrafts, from whale baleen baskets to delicate bird figurines and walrus ivory carvings like the ones he makes himself.

Kinneeveauk is careful about where he sources his walrus ivory. He has to be. In northwest Alaska large colonies of Pacific walrus now regularly haul themselves out onto land — a phenomenon tied to the loss of sea ice due to climate change that has led to new threats for the massive marine mammals. When these walrus are vulnerable on land, people have killed them and salvaged only the tusks.

“Headhunting,” as this is known, is a violation of the Marine Mammal Protection Act, under which Indigenous people can hunt walrus but must make use of the whole animal. In recent years four hunters from Kinneeveauk’s community were charged with shooting and headhunting eight walruses hauled out on a beach at Cape Lisburne. The men’s actions during two separate hunts caused herds to stampede, resulting in the death or injury of at least two dozen additional walrus, about half of which were calves.

Catastrophic stampedes such as these would not occur on ice floes, where animals can escape into the water if disturbed.

[natural-selections]

We snagged something pretty cool today from an Inuit friend - a four-tusked walrus snout! Though the additional set is relatively small compared to the primary pair, this animal was still young and they potentially could have elongated further! For now we are keeping this in our Prehistoria Natural History Centre collection! Come see it free of charge every Friday-Sunday (12-6pm) at 1193 Weston Rd, Toronto.

[ltwilliammowett]

Scrimshaw on a walrus tusk, “Pax Britanica" with Royal Navy Warships, 19th century

[ltwilliammowett]

Two scrimshawed walrus tusks, c. 1834

One engraved with three sailing vessels; HMS Illustrious, HMS Trincomalee, flanked by a blowing whale and HMS Pilot, inscribed with the words ‘Walrus Tusk’ the other similarly engraved with HMS Erin, Conway and Stag and inscribed ‘Port Clarence August 1834’

[ltwilliammowett]

Walrus tusk scrimshaw page turner, 19th century

[ltwilliammowett]

Scrimshaw carving (possibly made from a Walrus tusk) in the form of a lighthouse, 19th century