Original subtitles

My name is Erica Allen and I'm a senior marine mammal trainer here at the

Indianapolis Zoo and this is my best friend

Pakak. Pakak is a five year old Pacific walrus

he was found stranded in 2012 and made his way here to the Indianapolis Zoo as

his new home. He currently weighs over 1,200 pounds

and he's still growing. He's expected to reach his full weight of around 3,000

pounds when he's full-grown. Walrus make all different kinds of unique

vocalizations and Pak has a few he'd like to demonstrate today. Good. Whistle? Good boy!

Good. Good. Training our walrus for medical behaviors is one of the most

important things we do here to be able to take care of them at the zoo. You guys

can notice Pak has some beautiful tusks that have been growing ever since

he came here one thing you might notice in particular about these tusks is that

they've been capped. So we have these small silver caps on the end and they're

designed specifically to help protect his tusks. We monitor the growth of these

tusks by measuring them

Right now Pak's tusks are about seven and a half inches long they could reach

a full length of about two feet. We have a special enrichment program for

our walrus here at the zoo and that is basically just the toys that we give

them to help make their lives more meaningful here. Of course toys for a

walrus have to be very sturdy so you see a couple of examples of these toys some

of Pak's favorite ways of interacting with this toys are eating his food off

of them or carrying them around in the water. My favorite part of working with

the walrus here at the zoo is a special relationships that were able to form

with each and every one of them. I've been here since Pakak's very first day at

the zoo we've been able to form a very special bond. Right? Good boy!