12/24/2023 0 Comments Wally the walrusit is clear that polar bears will never thrive in Iceland in the long term due to the lack of sea ice here and the limited food supply. As the Icelandic Institute of Natural History notes, “. Since 2008, Iceland’s policy is to kill such vagrant bears, which aren’t expected to be able to survive on the island and which are furthermore considered a threat to humans and domestic animals. Polar bears periodically come ashore in Iceland, where they’re considered vagrants hailing from eastern Greenland. Last year, a bearded vulture wowed birders in England’s Peak District, where she earned the name “Vigo.” A DNA analysis of some of its dropped feathers showed the huge raptor – only the second officially documented bird of her kind in England – had hatched the year before in the French Alps.Īnother snow-white Arctic beast sometimes drifts southward into unusual digs. The only golden eagle ever recorded in Hawaii soared the island of Kauai for some 17 (possibly very lonely) years. Unsurprisingly, given the whole flight deal, birds often become vagrants: blown off-course by storms, or perhaps in some cases exhibiting some navigational short-circuiting, as when migrating birds overshoot breeding or wintering grounds or engage in topsy-turvy “reverse migration.” Barn swallows have fluttered to Antarctica a Magellanic penguin waddled ashore in El Salvador. But in other cases, vagrants that survive may serve as frontline scouts in helping a species colonise new territory. Such creatures may be doomed unless they manage to journey back to more appropriate stomping grounds – frequently a tall order for an animal that may already have burned through energy reserves reaching its exotic haunts, and unable to procure adequate food there to fuel up. Often vagrants show up in settings unlikely to provide high-quality long-term habitat, as in the case of off-track walruses in Ireland or Wales. (These are distinguished, of course, from exotic creatures escaped or released from captivity.) The two Wallys and the other walruses that very periodically haul out along the margins of the British Isles are examples of biological “vagrants”: that is, animals that appear well beyond their normal geographic range. After swimming as far south as Harris in the Outer Hebrides, the walrus doubled back it was later seen well north in the Shetland Islands, maybe homeward bound for the Arctic. That Scottish Wally (Wally I, maybe?) first appeared in the Orkney Islands, then cruised the coast off Sutherland – the first walrus to appear along the Scottish mainland since 1954, according to The Press & Journal. And in 2018, a walrus who also ended up earning the super-popular moniker of “Wally” took a sightseeing tour of northern Scotland – perhaps an unscheduled one, given some surmised the pinniped arrived amid the tumult of the “Beast From the East” anticyclone that afflicted the British Isles with unusually fierce winter weather. A few others have showed up in Irish waters before. He’s not the first walrus to cruise the British Isles. (It’s worth noting that not all that long ago an enterprising or ice-riding walrus wouldn’t have had to journey quite so far to reach Ireland: Walruses inhabited Iceland up until about 1,100 years ago, when Norse settlers wiped them out for their ivory.) He may have been the walrus spotted in mid-February in Denmark. But whether he drifted down on an iceberg or swam isn’t clear. The BDMLR and St Mary’s Harbour Authority constructed a specific customized pontoon replicating his apparent need for physical contact.Where did Wally come from? Likely either Greenland or the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard. Such a pontoon would be similar to one built for the walrus during his time on the Isles of Scilly. “As a Pinniped (like seals and sea lions), Walruses are semi-aquatic, which means they must come up on land (or a floating object) to rest.ĬHECK OUT: Size Doesn’t Matter to a Dolphin Mom As She Adopts a Whale Calf The charity said: “We are looking for a pontoon/floating platform as a safe haul-out site for the Walrus, so that he can be effectively monitored, protected from disturbance, and damage to property prevented. RELATED: Diver Gets Glorious Glimpse of Giant Sea Worm That Normally Only Comes Out at Night Seal Rescue Ireland has now launched an appeal for a pontoon or other floating platform for Wally to use as a “safe, designated haul-out site” for him to rest on undisturbed. It was first seen in Ireland before taking up residence in Tenby, Pembrokeshire in March. The large sea mammal, thought to be around four years old, has reportedly sunk one small boat and damaged several others on his visit to Cork. The boat is ordinarily used to forage for rock samphire, a botanical used in gin production.
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