''Aivukus'' is an extinct genus of
walrus
The walrus (''Odobenus rosmarus'') is a large pinniped marine mammal with discontinuous distribution about the North Pole in the Arctic Ocean and subarctic seas of the Northern Hemisphere. It is the only extant species in the family Odobeni ...
from the
Miocene
The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...
.
Etymology
The generic name is derived from the
Inuit
Inuit (singular: Inuk) are a group of culturally and historically similar Indigenous peoples traditionally inhabiting the Arctic and Subarctic regions of North America and Russia, including Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwe ...
word for walrus, ''aivuk''.
Description
From fossil records it was at least as big as, if not slightly bigger than, the modern walrus, and, like the modern walrus, was probably a
molluscivore
A molluscivore is a carnivorous animal that specialises in feeding on molluscs such as gastropods, bivalves, brachiopods and cephalopods. Known molluscivores include numerous predatory (and often cannibalistic) molluscs, (e.g. octopuses, murexes, ...
.
Sources
* ''Marine Mammals: Evolutionary Biology'' by Annalisa Berta, James L. Sumich
*
Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals' by William F. Perrin, Bernd Wursig, and J. G.M.
Thewissen
Miocene pinnipeds
Monotypic prehistoric carnivoran genera
Fossils of Mexico
Odobenids
Fossil taxa described in 1977
{{paleo-carnivora-stub