Walruses in Svalbard, Norway Sep 30, 2024

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 off 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 3-metres long and weigh more than 1,179 kilograms; during mating season, they use this girth to fight among themselves for dominance over groups of females, called harems.

© AWL Images/DanitaDelimont

palette

Today in History

Sep 30, 2023Shenandoah National Park, Virginia, USA
Sep 30, 2025Koala, Australia

More Desktop Wallpapers:

Jul 21, 2024Kendwa village, Zanzibar, Tanzania
Aug 18, 2025Avalanche Lake Trail at Adirondack High Peaks, New York, United States
May 19, 2025Mount Hamilton, San Francisco Bay Area, California, United States
Jan 24, 2024Diamond Beach, Iceland
May 25, 2025Butchart Gardens in Brentwood Bay, British Columbia, Canada
Nov 19, 2023Alam-Pedja Nature Reserve, Estonia
Mar 23, 2026Saguaro cacti in the Sonoran Desert, Arizona, USA
Dec 19, 2024Sibiu Christmas Market, Romania
Dec 16, 2023Guild houses of Grand-Place, Brussels, Belgium
Sep 20, 2024Ocracoke Lighthouse on Ocracoke Island, North Carolina, USA
Jun 22, 2025Amazon rainforest, Ecuador
Sep 15, 2025Black-winged stilts, France
Sep 16, 2025Nighttime view over the Gulf Coast
Feb 9, 2026Amur leopard cat, Russia
Sep 13, 2025Point Reyes National Seashore
Dec 1, 2025Natural arch carved in an iceberg, Antarctica
Apr 21, 2024Cades Cove, Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Mar 3, 2025Yellow-billed hornbills in Kruger National Park, South Africa
Aug 31, 2024Sahara, Algeria
Mar 3, 2024Leopard in a tree, Kruger National Park, South Africa
Mar 24, 2024Silvereyes, South Korea
Feb 20, 2026Horsetail Fall in Yosemite National Park, California, United States
Jul 1, 2024Fisgard Lighthouse, Colwood, British Columbia, Canada
Jul 18, 2025Eucalyptus forest, Urubici, Santa Catarina, Brazil
Sep 17, 2025A young bull moose
Nov 3, 2024Ría Lagartos Biosphere Reserve, Yucatán, Mexico
Aug 18, 2024Huntington Beach Pier, California, USA
Apr 17, 2024Black bear cub emerges into spring
Dec 17, 2025Eurasian red squirrel
May 22, 2024Tasmanian snow gum, Mount Field National Park, Tasmania, Australia