ARKHANGELSK, July 30. /TASS/. Participants in the annual Arctic Floating University expedition found an adult walrus skull with a fragment of a narwhal tusk embedded in it on the island of the Prince George Land of the Franz Josef Land Archipelago, the expedition's leader Alexander Saburov told TASS.
The tusk entered the walrus' nostril and reached the eye socket, and scientists, having analyzed the remains, say the animal lived with it in its head for longer than one year.
"The expedition's unique find happened when we discovered on the Prince George Land Island an adult walrus skull with a fragment of a narwhal tusk embedded in it," he said. "According the expedition's zoologists, this is evidence that the encounter between the walrus and the narwhal, where the tusk or tooth of the narwhal got into the nostril, into the walrus' nasal opening, had happened long before that walrus died, and he lived with this tusk for many years. This is evidenced by the fact that the tusk was very firmly embedded in the skull and bone tissue, it could not be reached or even moved. Most likely, the walrus lived safely, to the extent it may be possible, even though the tusk had almost reached the walrus' eye socket."
