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This is a walrus mask. This mask is the spirit that drives the walrus, sea-lions, and seals towards the shore so the hunter can get them."
Dick Andrew (1994) explains why the dancers presented a walrus mask: "They would put on seal-gut parkas and paint red ocher on them and put on masks and dance. I saw them. Ones that had walrus masks would make sounds like walrus. . .
They would talk about the fish mask and say they were presenting it hoping to receive it. Or they would present a seal mask and say they were hoping to receive it. . . They would talk about their masks like that. . .
They would use their tuunrat like that. They would make masks that represent their tuunrat. . .
And in the spring there would be lots of walrus if one of them had presented a walrus mask."
 Walrus range from about 9 to 12 feet long and can weigh from 1800 to 3700 pounds. The male is generally larger than the female but both have huge bodies with thick, wrinkled, hairy skin. As they get old they start to lose their hair.
One of the most interesting things about a walrus is its tusk. These tusks can be as big as 3 feet long on some males. They are used as weapons in fighting and as hooks to climb ice.
Walruses live in a congregation of gregarious wild animals herds that can sometimes number up to several thousand. These herds live on or near the shore or among the ice floes. Walruses are gentle unless attacked, then they defend themselves violently. If they are attacked, the entire herd will come in defense of the walrus.
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