Did you hear the news about Wally the wandering walrus who has returned to Ireland after a big trip all around Europe!?
Well, as his tour continues it's a great chance to learn all about this giant sea creature
RTÉ News have reported the animal nicknamed Wally, which first appeared on Kerry's Valentia Island back in March, has returned and was chilling out on a boat in County Waterford!
He is on the move again and is going for a tour of Cork! Maybe he wants to race the rowers below!?
Click here to read the latest report from RTÉ News
It's a very rare animal to have in Irish waters, so let's take the chance to learn a bit more about walruses.
Here Padraig Whooley, who is the Sightings Officer for the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG), tells Morning Ireland a bit more about the walrus' big adventure...
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According to their records this is only the third recent IWDG validated record of this Arctic pinniped, although there are likely to be other sighting records that were not reported to IWDG, whose focus is on cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises).
The National Biodiversity Data Centre has 11 walrus records but the Natural History Museum suggest this number may be as high as 20 going back over several centuries. Either way, walrus sightings here are extremely rare.
He is chilling in Cork right now and he might stay on the move too as walruses can travel vast distances as we have seen.
If you see Wally or any other sea mammals you can let the guys at IWDG know - email sightings@iwdg.ie.
Or you can download the brand new sightings app for free HERE!
You can see their report with maps of the big mammal's journey here - Walrus returns to Ireland
Sibéal Regan who is the Education and Outreach Officer with IWDG tells us more about the big sea creature and where it normally spends it's time...
The walrus is a pinniped or fin-footed mammal and is related to seals and sea lions.
However, they belong to the genus Odobenus. There is only one species of walrus Odobenus rosmarus which translates from Latin to "tooth walking sea horse".
Although there is only one species of walrus there are two subspecies that have been divided geographically these subspecies look different to one another and are genetically distinct.
Atlantic walruses (Odobenus rosmarus rosmarus) historically range from the central Canadian Arctic east to the Kara Sea, north to Svalbard and south to Nova Scotia, while the Pacific walrus (Odobenus rosmarus divergens) range across continental shelf waters of the northern Bering Sea and Chukchi Sea, using broken ice habitat and coastal haulouts to access feeding areas.
Both subspecies are highly mobile and occupy large ranges so it is hard to predict where Wally might go next; but they can be fussy eaters, so it is likely going to be somewhere with relatively shallow water with lots of benthic invertebrates.
The walrus is the largest pinniped except for the male elephant seal. They can reach lengths of approximately three and a half metres and weigh up to 1.5 tons.
Wally is only approximately two metres and from the size of their tusks it's likely Wally is not yet fully grown.
