The walrus E.T. calls Tacoma zoo home

Published 2:02 pm Friday, June 15, 2012

TACOMA — The Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium in Tacoma is celebrating the 30th birthday this weekend of one of its most popular residents, the walrus named E.T.

He weighed only 155 pounds when he was picked up in 1982 by oil well workers at Prudhoe Bay, Alaska.

He was nursed back to health at The Alaska Zoo in Anchorage and moved to the zoo in Tacoma where he was named after the alien in a Steven Spielberg movie “E.T. the Extra Terrestrial.”

E.T. has put on more than 3,000 pounds. He has also been trained to climb on a scale and let keepers take blood samples and brush his teeth. E.T. lifts his flippers in greeting, sticks out his tongue and can nod yes or no to questions.