One of the great creatures the Lord created that fifth day of creation is the walrus. What a strange animal it is, with its long tusks, whiskers and clumsy body! It lives in areas near the North Pole where the terrain is mostly ice and water.
How can the walrus live in such hard conditions, where an unprotected man would quickly freeze to death? And, since it is a mammal, how can it dive for its food without drowning? The answer to both questions is that the Lord has created it in a very special way that enables it to survive.
The walrus’s chief protection from the cold is a thick layer of blubber between its skin and flesh. The walrus needs to maintain a comfortable body temperature and could not do so without this insulation. The Lord also gave it a built-in “thermostat” that automatically starts blood pumping away from the blubber to the muscles, flesh and internal body organs the moment the animal enters the freezing water, keeping it very comfortable. But in leaving the water and returning to the ice or seashore, it would be too warm with all that hot blood circulating through its body, so the “thermostat” goes to work and the right proportion of blood returns into the blubber and skin where the heat radiates off. Exposed to the air, it is soon back to a comfortable temperature. The Lord also made it so that its heart slows down, requiring less oxygen, while it is in the water. This makes it possible for it to stay underwater for up to 25 minutes, even though it needs to breathe air to live.
While a walrus is clumsy on land, it is very agile in the water and can swim up to 30 miles an hour. A walrus feeds on clams, shrimp, sea urchins and plants that grow on shallower ocean floors, since it only dives about 325 feet. Sensitive whiskers help it smell its food, and it uses its long tusks to help it get the food. Its tusks are also useful weapons against its worst enemy, the polar bear, and handy tools to help pull itself out of the water onto the ice.
As this is an air-breathing mammal, it has special muscles that shut off its airways whenever it opens its mouth underwater.
The Lord’s perfect design of the walrus for living in its difficult environment can be an encouragement to us that He knows and cares, so much more, about each of our lives. He cares about what we go through and knows how to help us get through whatever problems we face. We are told to cast all our cares upon Him, because “He [cares] for you” (1 Peter 5:77Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you. (1 Peter 5:7)).
Did You Know?
Walruses can stay underwater for up to 25 minutes.
Messages of God’s Love 7/28/2024