Posted on 06/28/2021 8:23:13 PM PDT by nickcarraway
The tusked explorer has been spotted boarding boats in the Isles of Scilly, capsizing some of them in the process
When you subscribe we will use the information you provide to send you these newsletters. Your information will be used in accordance with ourPrivacy Notice. Wally the wandering Walrus has been causing a stir again - this time by trying to find a place to have a nap.
The huge mammal was first spotted off the coast of Ireland earlier this year, before going on to become a local celebrity after a brief stay in Tenby and later making appearances in France and Spain.
The latest stop on Wally's whistlestop tour of Europe is the Isles of Scilly, an archipelago of 140 islands about 40 kilometres off the coast of Cornwall, where he has been getting friendly with the locals and hauling his massive bulk onto boats.
Some of his attempts have been more successful than others, however.
One standoff with a boat owner in St Mary's harbour, in the most populated of the five inhabited islands in the Isles of Scilly, ended with the man looking somewhat defeated by Wally's efforts to flop himself into a dinghy tethered to his boat.
Some people have been a little happier to see Wally, however, with a group of tourists thrilled to see his efforts to join them on a boat trip recently.
Wally arrived in Porthcressa Bay on June 17 and, after spending a couple of days feeding around St Martin's island last week, spent two days dozing on a small inflatable boat in St Mary's. Joe Pender, who runs boat trips around the islands, took the opportunity to take photographs of Wally's latest escapades.
"I run a passenger boat around the island for tourists doing wildlife trips and trips to the other islands.
"I received a call saying Wally was trying to board some boats, I was heading out on a trip so-called in and took my first photos of him. On Thursday, he was found asleep in a RIB (rigid inflatable boat) in St Mary’s harbour, which he spent two days in.
"He then went back to St Martin's until yesterday (Saturday, June 26) lunchtime. when he came back into the harbour trying various boats to haul out on capsizing some".
The images show Wally trying a few different boats for size, on one he appears to be struggling to squeeze his huge body onto the vessel, in another he seems more content and relaxed as he snoozes away the day.
Wally is thought to have drifted from the arctic on an iceberg and experts hope he will eventually make his way back to his icy home.
For now, though, it looks like he's quite happy where he is.
Any good walrus recipes out there?
“Duh, gee, Tennessee. Even I got a boat. Where’s your boat?”
Whoda thunk Wilford Brimley was such a boating enthusiast?
Michelle Obama likes to swim? Who knew!
Wally is adorable.
I’m pretty sure the Inuits have some good ones.
I wonder how much he/she/it weighs...and what’s going on in its social life...
Unless a human has habituated an animal to this kind of behavior - or something is ‘wrong’ in the animal’s natural order - they don’t tend to act like this.
Walrus eat massive amounts of clams and when Eskimos harvest one, they open up the stomach and have the undigested ones for lunch with pilot bread.
That Walrus looks thinner than Hillary.
Or Stacy Abrams.
Cow tipping……fun times!
they don’t tend to act like this.…
A Universal Truth… Behavior that gets rewarded gets repeated. (Good or Bad Behavior)
Just like at any Sea World attractions, this guy got a free meal somewhere.
It seems really bizarre & he’s a BIG boy! Maybe he’s mispecied (I think that’s not an actual word) & needs an operation. He just really grooves on boats.
You actually have a good point......was he someone’s pet & then was abandoned?
Somebody ‘trained’ Wally to this. It happens on docks/wharfs all the time - whether birds or mammals. People feed and habituate them, without thinking that it might be bad for the critter down the road.
It’s not natural for an animal like that to climb into a boat unless he’s had good experiences in that situation before.
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