Walrus fans everywhere can now watch the thousands of walruses sunning on Round Island live via a new set of walrus cams.
This live stream is sponsored by Explore.org, an organization that has installed these wildlife cams all over the world.
Our first cam in Alaska was in Katmai with Ranger Roy with the brown bears and salmon,” said Charles Annenberg Weingarden, the founder of Explore.org and the vice president of the Annenberg Foundation.
The idea for the cams, he says, “was to allow people to get up close and personal with nature, to allow people to reconnect, to fall in love with the world again.”
Weingarden says he’s always had an interest in marine life, but walruses especially captured his attention.
“You know they’re vocal… they sing they speak… they look lazy but they’re great singers, which I relate to… I love the way they move their heads. The tusk is amazing. They’re swimming tanks! They’re two to four thousand pounds!”
Weingarten says he was especially excited to bring cameras to a place as hard to reach as Round Island.
“Not only is it remote, it’s very weather prohibitive It’s very difficult to fly there, it’s not an easy journey,” said Weingarten. So to be able to connect the world to such a sacred place is amazing…”
The cameras live-stream from two different beaches on Round Island, where thousands of male walruses “haul out” to rest in the spring and summer. Weingarten says that’s a party everyone is going to want to check out:
“Now I’ve almost made it comical, because now that I’m watching them on the live cams, I’ve dubbed this summer – this Memorial Day weekend – the ‘Summer of Blubber’ to just enjoy and celebrate… but I just think with the walruses, it’s such a magical place.”
The Annenberg Foundation also provided funding to keep Round Island staffed after last year’s budget cuts threatened to close the island to visitors.
Check out the beach party live on Explore.org.
Hannah Colton is a reporter at a in Dillingham.
