Herd of walruses in northern Spitsbergen, Svalbard archipelago, Norway
© AWL Images/DanitaDelimont
Go with the floe
What's the perfect thing to do under the midnight sun? If you're a walrus like the ones in today's image, the answer might be taking a quick dip with your crew, chowing down on clams and mussels and then sunbathing on a beach or ice floe. Welcome to Svalbard, an archipelago in the Arctic Ocean halfway between Norway and the North Pole. Photographed in the waters of Spitsbergen, the largest of the archipelago's nine islands, these aquatic mammals are year-round residents that are often found in male or female herds. Male walruses can be almost 4 metres long and weigh more than 1,200 kilograms, and during mating season, they use this girth to fight among themselves for dominance over groups of females, called harems.
Other wildlife in the archipelago includes whales, dolphins, arctic foxes, reindeer and tourist favourites, polar bears. European whalers first visited Svalbard in 1611, and Norway and Russia still use the islands for coal production. If you wish to see a walrus you can spot one along the northern coasts of Hudson Bay, Davis Strait, Foxe Basin and Baffin Bay in Canada.