[imagesource: Alan Houlihan / Eye Focus LTD]

A walrus, in Ireland?

Indeed, and the locals are just as perplexed as you are.

According to the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG), “walrus sightings here are extremely rare”, and this is just the third official record in the country since 1999.

The walrus was spotted by a five-year-old girl called Muireann, and her father, whilst the pair was out on a walk on Valentia Island, just off the country’s west coast.

Before we get to the video that really captures the essence of Ireland, more on how the walrus ended up there via Live Science:

How does a young walrus end up in County Kerry? “I’d say what happened is, he fell asleep on an iceberg and drifted off, and then he was gone too far, out into the mid-Atlantic or somewhere like that, down off Greenland possibly,” Kevin Flannery, a marine biologist with the Dingle Oceanworld Aquarium, [said].

“He could also be island-hopping and went to Iceland and on to Shetland, but that’s unlikely,” Flannery said. I’d say he came in out of the Atlantic.” After traveling thousands of miles, the walrus is likely exhausted and hungry, he added.

Imagine cracking a nap and then voila, your iceberg has drifted off and you’re in very unusual territory.

Irish news channel RTE News reported on the walrus earlier in the week, and given that it’s St. Patrick’s Day, it makes for required viewing.

It really does have it all:

The elderly gentleman’s walrus sound is a great way to kick things off, and it’s hit after hit from there on out:

Has there ever been a more Irish-looking child than this seemingly disgruntled young’un?

As somebody pointed out on Twitter, the walrus imitator at the start of the video has some competition. See the second video below:

Any relation, d’ya reckon? pic.twitter.com/Lh8dXUfliH

— Rob McDonagh (@RobMcD) March 15, 2021

It really is impossible not to love the Irish.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day – enjoy some beer and pizza.

[source:livescience]