Bored at work? We’ve got the perfect distraction for you … they’re big, they’re blubbery and they make for great TV – introducing "Walrus Cam"! After lying dormant for almost a decade due to a lack of funding, Alaska's popular walrus webcam is back in action. The high-definition stream comes to you from remote Round Island thanks to philanthropic organisation Explore.org who put up the cash to restore the cam.

The funding has not only helped get the lovable walruses back on the web, but it is also paying for two staff members whose job it is to welcome the handful of visitors that frequent Round Island, as well as to aid in preventing boats or aircraft from scaring the walruses, potentially sparking a stampede (although we cannot advocate for the scaring of walruses, we would LOVE to witness a walrus stampede). 

Web users first fell in love with the walrus cam in 2005; however, operational problems and a lack of continued funding quickly brought the project to an end. The vice-president of the Annenberg Foundation and founder of Explore.org, Charlie Annenberg Weingarten, stepped up to restore visual access to the island. Four cameras now give viewers a closer look at the lives of the some 14,000 male walruses that live there while the females are off raising their pups. The new streams form part of Explore.org's Pearls of the Planet project, a network of live cameras from all over the world.

It takes a lengthy boat ride to reach the remote Round Island – an area that received just 42 visitors last year. Few people ever see the walruses pile in person. For many, this webcam is as close as they'll ever get. So grab the popcorn and hit play … it’s walrus-watching time.

Header image: Chase Dekker/Flickr