Call it a match made in Marineland. A trainer at the Niagara Falls, Ont., amusement park has captured the affections of a 365-kilogram, five-year-old female walrus.

Smooshi has been smitten with trainer Phil Demers since arriving at Marineland from Russia about four years ago.

Smooshi bonded with Phil Demers shortly after she arrived at the park as an 18-month-old walrus.
(CBC)

It was his job to make the transition to her new home a comfortable one and he won the animal's heart by removing her from a medical exam room when she became frightened.

"She actually imprinted on me, so she recognizes my smell, my sounds, everything," Demers told CBC Newsworld on Sunday. "It's interesting in that she kind of sees me almost as a maternal figure, so it happened fairly immediately."

Smooshi follows Demers everywhere — whether or not he has a supply of fish — and hates for him to be out of her sight for even a moment.

"If I'm with other animals in the back, she is always attuned to where I am and tries to get my attention," he says.

She makes a barking sound if he's making the rounds without her, and although she gets along with all the trainers, they know not to get too close when she's with her favourite.

Women in particular sometimes end up getting a gentle head butt, which Smooshi demonstrated when a fellow trainer moved next to Demers during his interview.

The walrus playfully pokes at a female trainer who tries to get close to the pair.
(CBC)

"If you're a lady, you don't want to get between Smooshi and me," he says. "She's real protective. She doesn't get terribly aggressive. It's not a dangerous situation, but she's very adamant that she doesn't want you to be between us, and she'll move you."

Many of Demers's friends and colleagues are intrigued by the mammalian mismatch.

Michael Noonan, professor of animal behaviour at Cansius College in Buffalo, N.Y., is looking at studying the relationship further.

"It warrants a study," says Demers. "We're an interesting pair."