Walrus haulout in Arctic Circle captured by drone 

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 A drone captured some amazing footage of walruses gathered in the Arctic Circle on the beach of the Kara Sea,  in northern Russia last month. This is known as a walrus haulout, where large numbers of the species gather to socialize and reproduce.

The Pacific Walrus are found mainly along the shores of the Arctic Seas between Alaska and Siberia.

Aleksander Sokolov, a senior researcher at the Arctic Research Station (ARS) led a team of researchers to study the event. They were able to get within a few feet of the gathering to film from the ground.

Sokolov reported, “They are fascinatingly interesting animals. When you lay there with thousands of them and you are between them – they speak to each other, communicate, argue, maybe they exchange words of love. I seem to romanticize it, but this is exactly what it looks to me.”

Walrus haulout, a  positive sign species is growing again

It was encouraging that 3,000 of the animals were counted by the Arctic Research Station scientists. This is only a small part of the walrus habitat. Scientists and researchers fear that shrinking ice could cause a decrease in the species population.