science

Head of a Walrus

Head of a Walrus is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Head of a Walrus rather than just read about it. In short: Head of a Walrus (German: Kopf eines Walrosses) is a 1521 pen drawing painted in watercolour by the German artist Albrecht Dürer, now in the British Museum, London. At the time the walrus' main European population was around Scandinavia, and they were exotic to inland Europeans.

Key takeaways

Head of a Walrus belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Head of a Walrus to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Head of a Walrus from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Head of a Walrus (German: Kopf eines Walrosses) is a 1521 pen drawing painted in watercolour by the German artist Albrecht Dürer, now in the British Museum, London. At the time the walrus' main European population was around Scandinavia, and they were exotic to inland Europeans. The work reflects Dürer fascination with what he perceived as unusual animals, with similarly intentioned works including depictions of lions and rhinoceros. The drawing was created as part of a larger series of 167 drawings of quadrupeds. The drawing is generally considered as not successful; and is viewed as curious attempted depiction that is neither aesthetically pleasing nor anatomically true to life. Art historians assume the artist drew it from memory having viewed a dead example during a 1520 visit to Zeeland to see a stranded whale which had decomposed before his arrival. Referring to the depiction departure for nature, Durer's animal has been described as "amusing...it looks more like a hairless puppy with tusks. When Dürer drew from life his accuracy was unquestionable, but he had only briefly seen a walrus, and had only fleeting memory and an elaborate verbal description from which to reconstruct the image". The drawing is inscribed with the words "1521 / Das dosig thÿr van dem jch do das hawbt / contrefett hab ist gefangen worden / jn die niderlendischen see vnd / was XII ellen lang / brawendisch mit für fusse", which were for many years loosely translated to English as "1521, That stupid (or dozy) animal of which I have portrayed the head was caught in the Netherlands sea and was twelve brabant ells long with four feet", although the interpretation of "dosig thÿr" as stupid or dozy is no longer necessarily held, and it may have that the text instead should be inferred as "dasig" or "hiesig", as in "represented here". The "AD" monograph and dating are later additions by another artist.

See also List of paintings by Albrecht Dürer

Notes

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Head of a Walrus

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Head of a Walrus claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Head of a Walrus before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Head of a Walrus ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Head of a Walrus

In research: Head of a Walrus appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Head of a Walrus in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Head of a Walrus is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1521 paintings, Mammals in art, Prints and drawings in the British Museum, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Head of a Walrus outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Head of a Walrus in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Head of a Walrus means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Head of a Walrus out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Head of a Walrus in simple terms?

Why does Head of a Walrus matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Head of a Walrus?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Head of a Walrus.