Pacific walruses usually make their residence floating on ice sheets out in the sea. But this year, the absence of  tundra ice has left them crowding Alaskan beaches – up to 20,000 at one point this summer!  This occurrence is so unusual, scientists are worried about the safety of the animals. Easily spooked, walruses could trample each other to death in a stampede. The Today Show reports on the phenomenon from Point Lay, Alaska, in “Without sea ice, walruses struggle to adapt.”

Learn more about how disappearing sea ice affects Arctic animals like walruses.

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