Photo compliments of http:\/\/static.howstuffworks.com\/gif\/walrus-sleep-without-drowning-2.jpg<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nWhenever we head out into the boat we should always have our life jackets with us, right?\u00a0 Well the same is true for the Pacific Walrus.\u00a0 They have adapted a feature that acts like a life jacket.\u00a0 Walruses have a body part called the “pharyngeal pouch”.\u00a0 This pouch is located on either side of the walrus’ esophagus and is capable of holding up to 50 L (13 Gallons) of air.\u00a0 What happens when the walrus fills these pouches with air? Well, they are able to float vertically with their head sticking out of the water.<\/p>\n
This ability to float in the water has several benefits to the pacific walrus.\u00a0 First, the males use this technique when they are practicing karaoke in order to attract potential mates. Besides just propping up the males, these air pockets help give the male walrus that bell-like sound that drives the ladies wild.\u00a0 Females will also use this life jacket while they are nursing their young.\u00a0 Since the calves nurse upside down, the mother is able to float around effortlessly while the young feed.\u00a0 Both male and female walruses can use this technique to catch some shut-eye, however, they generally don’t prefer to sleep while floating aimlessly around the ocean.\u00a0 For this reason they will usually sink their tusks into a stable ice floe to provide some reassurance. Besides allowing the walruses to float the muscles for these pouches also prevent water from entering their mouths while they dive.\u00a0 Of course, the pouches are not filled with air while they are diving.<\/p>\n
How did you enjoy today’s fact? Have you seen a walrus floating in the water?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Whenever we head out into the boat we should always have our life jackets with us, right?\u00a0 Well the same is true for the Pacific Walrus.\u00a0 They have adapted a feature that acts like a life jacket.\u00a0 Walruses have a body part called the “pharyngeal pouch”.\u00a0 This pouch is located on either side of the walrus’ esophagus and is capable of holding up to 50 L (13 Gallons) of air.\u00a0 What happens when the walrus fills these pouches with air? Well, they are able to float vertically with their head sticking out of the water. This ability to float in <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":168,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[60,4024],"tags":[4025,93,94],"yoast_head":"\n
Pacific Walruses - The Pharyngeal Pouch<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Describes how the pacific walrus is able to use the pharyngeal pouch to assist with floating.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.wild-facts.com\/2009\/wild-fact-983-a-lifeguards-dream-pacific-walrus\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pacific Walruses - The Pharyngeal Pouch\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Describes how the pacific walrus is able to use the pharyngeal pouch to assist with floating.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/www.wild-facts.com\/2009\/wild-fact-983-a-lifeguards-dream-pacific-walrus\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Animal Facts For Kids | Wild Facts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-09-15T07:00:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-01-15T23:27:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.wild-facts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/09\/walrus-sleep-without-drowning-2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Nathan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Nathan\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.wild-facts.com\/2009\/wild-fact-983-a-lifeguards-dream-pacific-walrus\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.wild-facts.com\/2009\/wild-fact-983-a-lifeguards-dream-pacific-walrus\/\",\"name\":\"Pacific Walruses - The Pharyngeal Pouch\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wild-facts.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2009-09-15T07:00:21+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-01-15T23:27:30+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wild-facts.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4c5129f3f0129e9989a2b850bb2f3cc4\"},\"description\":\"Describes how the pacific walrus is able to use the pharyngeal pouch to assist with floating.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/www.wild-facts.com\/2009\/wild-fact-983-a-lifeguards-dream-pacific-walrus\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wild-facts.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.wild-facts.com\/\",\"name\":\"Animal Facts For Kids | Wild Facts\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.wild-facts.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wild-facts.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4c5129f3f0129e9989a2b850bb2f3cc4\",\"name\":\"Nathan\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wild-facts.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/0.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0e126172d6ffd6e322bd2cea79f2ad95?s=96&d=wavatar&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/0.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0e126172d6ffd6e322bd2cea79f2ad95?s=96&d=wavatar&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Nathan\"},\"description\":\"I am a digital nomad who enjoys travelling around the globe while inspiring others to leave their comfort zone and improve their life. I have a passion for self-development and of course everything related to our natural ecosystems.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.wild-facts.com\"],\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.wild-facts.com\/author\/wildfac1\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Pacific Walruses - The Pharyngeal Pouch","description":"Describes how the pacific walrus is able to use the pharyngeal pouch to assist with floating.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/www.wild-facts.com\/2009\/wild-fact-983-a-lifeguards-dream-pacific-walrus\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Pacific Walruses - The Pharyngeal Pouch","og_description":"Describes how the pacific walrus is able to use the pharyngeal pouch to assist with floating.","og_url":"http:\/\/www.wild-facts.com\/2009\/wild-fact-983-a-lifeguards-dream-pacific-walrus\/","og_site_name":"Animal Facts For Kids | Wild Facts","article_published_time":"2009-09-15T07:00:21+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-01-15T23:27:30+00:00","og_image":[{"width":400,"height":300,"url":"http:\/\/www.wild-facts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/09\/walrus-sleep-without-drowning-2.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Nathan","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Nathan","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.wild-facts.com\/2009\/wild-fact-983-a-lifeguards-dream-pacific-walrus\/","url":"http:\/\/www.wild-facts.com\/2009\/wild-fact-983-a-lifeguards-dream-pacific-walrus\/","name":"Pacific Walruses - The Pharyngeal Pouch","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.wild-facts.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2009-09-15T07:00:21+00:00","dateModified":"2015-01-15T23:27:30+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.wild-facts.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4c5129f3f0129e9989a2b850bb2f3cc4"},"description":"Describes how the pacific walrus is able to use the pharyngeal pouch to assist with floating.","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/www.wild-facts.com\/2009\/wild-fact-983-a-lifeguards-dream-pacific-walrus\/"]}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.wild-facts.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.wild-facts.com\/","name":"Animal Facts For Kids | Wild Facts","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.wild-facts.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.wild-facts.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4c5129f3f0129e9989a2b850bb2f3cc4","name":"Nathan","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.wild-facts.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"http:\/\/0.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0e126172d6ffd6e322bd2cea79f2ad95?s=96&d=wavatar&r=g","contentUrl":"http:\/\/0.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0e126172d6ffd6e322bd2cea79f2ad95?s=96&d=wavatar&r=g","caption":"Nathan"},"description":"I am a digital nomad who enjoys travelling around the globe while inspiring others to leave their comfort zone and improve their life. I have a passion for self-development and of course everything related to our natural ecosystems.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.wild-facts.com"],"url":"http:\/\/www.wild-facts.com\/author\/wildfac1\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.wild-facts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.wild-facts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.wild-facts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.wild-facts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.wild-facts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=167"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.wild-facts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.wild-facts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.wild-facts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.wild-facts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.wild-facts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Photo](\"http:\/\/wild-facts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/09\/walrus-sleep-without-drowning-2-300x225.jpg\" "\\"walrus-sleep-without-drowning-2\\"")
<\/a>