• February 14, 2000
• Vol. 53
• No. 6

Tusk, Tusk

How does a 1,500-lb. walrus get a dental checkup? Any way she wants. Antje, the star attraction at the Hagenbeck Zoo in Hamburg, Germany, likes hers with a little herring, and Dirk Stutzki, who heads the zoo's arctic department, is happy to oblige. The usually mild-mannered Antje has been known to push handlers into her enclosure pool when she doesn't get enough to eat. Appearances aside, the 23-year-old isn't getting longer in the tooth—her tusks measure 26 in., the same as a year ago.