Walruses in Svalbard, Norway Sep 30, 2024

Walruses in Svalbard, Norway

What"s the perfect thing to do under the midnight sun? If you"re a walrus, 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. Our homepage stars were photographed in the waters off Spitsbergen, the largest of the archipelago"s nine islands, where male and female herds are found year-round. Male walruses can reach almost 12 feet long and weigh more than 2,600 pounds. During mating season, they use this girth to fight among themselves for dominance over groups of females, called harems.

© AWL Images/Danita Delimont

palette

Today in History

Sep 30, 2018Aw shucks, it’s oyster season in Galway
Sep 30, 2019Wheels up in Beijing
Sep 30, 2020All eyes on moths
Sep 30, 2021Global commerce in motion
Sep 30, 2022Southern right whale
Sep 30, 2023Shenandoah National Park, Virginia
Sep 30, 2025Koala in the Great Otway National Park, Australia

More Desktop Wallpapers:

Dec 1, 2020Giving Tuesday
Jun 8, 2024National Rivers Month
Jan 27, 2019A memorial in Germany
Mar 21, 2019The power of the forest
Apr 14, 2020A day for the dolphins
Apr 20, 2019Glacial spires in the fog
Feb 21, 2020Carnival comes to Olinda
May 19, 2026Formentor Lighthouse, Mallorca, Balearic Islands, Spain
Jan 6, 2020Have fun storming the castle
Nov 17, 2025National Take a Hike Day
Aug 9, 2021A tribute to the ancestors
Aug 4, 2020Into the woods
Apr 2, 2023Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park, East Java, Indonesia
Jul 7, 2021Back on the rise
Mar 9, 2022Flower of Life symbol drawn in snow
Aug 20, 2026An orca near the Chilkat Mountains, Lynn Canal, Alaska
Sep 7, 2021Whale hello there!
Jul 24, 2022Amelia Earhart
Aug 6, 2023Kagami-ike, Nagano, Japan
Jan 26, 2024Northern hawk-owl
Oct 3, 2019Love on ice
Jul 4, 2025Happy Fourth of July!
Apr 26, 2023Great horned owl fledglings
Dec 18, 2021Full moon
Apr 1, 2026National Frog Month
Jul 30, 2021Working for that cliffside view
Mar 30, 2026Demoiselle cranes, India
Dec 3, 2022Art Basel Miami Beach
Sep 10, 2019Welcome to my neck of the woods
Jul 8, 2024National Blueberry Day