Disappearing sea ice appears to be the reason more walruses can now be seen in certain areas of Alaska where oil leases have been sold, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. While walruses spend most of their lives at sea, they haul out onto sea ice and sometimes land to rest between feeding bouts, according to the U.S. agency. But because sea ice has been less in recent summers, walruseshave been spotted hauling out on beaches in Alaska and Russia. In 2010, walruses came ashore in late August. This year, the sea ice disappeared from the shelf earlier and walruses have already begun to come ashore.
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