Oosik

Near the point, we came across a washed up walrus. We haven't seen one yet, as walrus hunting is illegal, except when a yearly subsistence hunt takes place among some native groups (particular to this region, the Yupik). Someone had already taken the head and tusks, but inspecting the tail, we saw a bone (walruses don't have legs, we thought). Don squatted down immediately with his hatchet and knife and started digging and hacking the bone out of place, explaining that it was the "oosik" (or baculum--a part of the male walrus sex organ), and that he wanted it for a souvenir. He spent fifteen minutes cutting through the layers of skin and finally had his trophy: 23 inches in length. The walrus possesses the largest male feature in that category of any land mammal, "both relative to body size and in absolute terms" (Mammalian Species, 1985). We were impressed on so many levels.