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Historical sex-specific distribution of Atlantic walrus (Odobenus rosmarus rosmarus) in Svalbard assessed by mandible measurements

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Abstract

We developed a discriminant function based on measurements of known-sex mandibles of walrus from the Canadian Arctic collected between 1983 and 1998 and used it to explore the sex ratio in the catches of walrus in Tusenøyane, south-eastern Svalbard, during the nineteenth century. Canadian mandibles older than 5 years of age of known sex were classified into correct sex with 100% accuracy by using two measurements. Applying the same discriminant function to 80 mandibles from Svalbard older than 5 years of age classified 48 (60%) as males and 32 (40%) as females. It also classified 584 aged and un-aged mandibles from Svalbard 67% (390) as males and 33% (194) as females. Eight of the aged jaws (10%) and 41 (7%) of the un-aged jaws had probabilities of classification into sex <80%. We stress the importance of being cautious in applying a discriminant function developed from Canadian mandibles to classify the sex of old weathered mandibles from Svalbard. However, we believe our results indicate that female walrus were once more common in south-eastern Svalbard than they are now.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Kathy Fisher, Joel Garlich-Miller and the walrus hunters of Igloolik and Hall beach for collecting walrus jaws in Canada. Ages of Canadian material was done by Barb Stewart. Svalbard material was aged by Bjørn Bergflødt and Kjell A. Fagerheim. Ryan Stewart assisted with the Canadian measurements and drawing (Fig. 2). We are thankful to all. Funding in Canada was provided by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. Funding in Norway was provided by the Research Council of Norway (grant no.: I 735.004), the Norwegian Polar Institute, and the Natural History Museum, University of Oslo.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Natural History Museum, University of Oslo, 0318, Oslo, Norway

    Øystein Wiig

  2. Greenland Institute of Nature Resources, P.O. Box 570, Nuuk, DK-3900, Greenland

    Erik W. Born

  3. The Governor of Svalbard, P.O. Box 633, 9171, Longyearbyen, Norway

    Ian Gjertz

  4. Norwegian Polar Institute, 9296, Tromsø, Norway

    Christian Lydersen

  5. Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Freshwater Institute, 501 University Crescent, R3T 2N6, Winnipeg, MB, Canada

    Robert E. A. Stewart

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  1. Øystein Wiig
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  2. Erik W. Born
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  3. Ian Gjertz
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  4. Christian Lydersen
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  5. Robert E. A. Stewart
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Correspondence to Øystein Wiig.

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Wiig, Ø., Born, E.W., Gjertz, I. et al. Historical sex-specific distribution of Atlantic walrus (Odobenus rosmarus rosmarus) in Svalbard assessed by mandible measurements. Polar Biol 31, 69–75 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-007-0334-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-007-0334-7

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