Walrus Oosik Penile Bone 01
Description
Walrus Baculum Oosik Penile Bone. Walrus have a bone called a baculum (oosik is the native word) inside their penis as do some other mammals, the walrus has the largest. As the Ode to An Oosik poem goes (see photo) "Tho the climate is frigid the walrus is rigid, pray why is not man so endowed". This is a perfect 18 1/2" long specimen, polished and very nice, it was not excavated, it was collected from before 1972 when non natives could hunt walrus so this is rare. We obtained it from the family of the 1960's era hunter. This bone is dense and heavy, they were often used as clubs or making picks for digging
Most of the oosik we get were excavated from the ancient Yupik Eskimo village Kukuluk (coo coo' look) and traditional hunting camp sites (dating up to 10,000 years old) on St. Lawrence Island in the Bering Sea. Years of burial gives the bones and ivory tusks a range in color from tan to dark brown.