Icelandic Walruses May Have Been Early Victims of Human-Driven Extinction

There are no walruses in Iceland, but, at one time, there were hundreds. The timing of the walruses’ disappearance suggests that the population’s loss may be one of the earliest known examples of humans driving a marine species to local extinction.

The Ghost of Walruses Past

Walruses used to be a major feature of life in Iceland. Several settlements and landmarks along Iceland’s coast still bear names that refer to walruses, and a few of the medieval Sagas (the stories of the island’s early settler families) even mention them. The Saga of Hrafin Sveinbjarnarson, written down sometime in…