Two walruses which have visited Northumberland in just over a year are not the first of their kind to draw the crowds in the North East.
Thor turned up last week at Blyth and Freya appeared at Seahouses in November 2021 - a year in which Wally also put in appearances in Wales and Cornwall.
But in the 1830s a walrus created a stir when it went on show as a main attraction in a Newcastle museum. The animal was on show at the Hancock Museum – now the Great North Museum – until 1891 but what happened to it after that date is a mystery.
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John Hancock helped stuff the walrus in 1833 and it later occupied a stand-alone central gallery position in the museum named after the eminent naturalist. At the same time, a polar bear was added to the collections after being shot by crew members of the Tyneside whaling ship Lord Gambier, which had been hunting off Greenland.
Dan Gordon, keeper of biology at the Great North Museum, thinks that the walrus may also have come to Tyneside on the same ship. As proved by the crowds which Thor and Freya attracted, their appearance gave people a one-off chance to see a live walrus. In the 19th century the impact made by even a stuffed walrus would have been even greater.
“I would have been amazed if the museum walrus had not been a big attraction. I can imagine people filing around the exhibit to see it,” said Mr Gordon. “But what happened to the walrus is a bit of a mystery. Items get moved around and loaned, but it just seems to have vanished.”
The museum collections contain other items such as walrus skull and ivory, and one theory is that the exhibit may have deteriorated and parts of it were saved. Mr Gordon believes that the walrus visits to the Northumberland shoreline are part of a bigger picture which includes the way the populations of the animal have been hunted in the past and their habitat changed by human activity as Arctic areas have been increasingly exploited. Now there is also the added pressure of climate change.
“Perhaps we are seeing these young walruses trying to adapt and survive, and swimming further to find food,” said Mr Gordon.
Naturalist Ellie Coleman, from Northumbria Natural History Society, said: “The Atlantic Walrus can be found in the Arctic Ocean, around the North Pole, from Canada and Greenland to Svalbard and Russia. They are social animals, spending much of their lives on sea ice looking for molluscs and crustaceans to eat. They are huge, weighing on average 900kg and never usually venture far from their home in the far North.
“Recently, however, walrus sightings have been delighting people in the UK. Walrus travel quickly. Wally covered 280 miles travelling from County Kerry in Ireland to Pembrokeshire in just six days and Thor arrived in Blyth from Scarborough in under a day.
“Climate change may also have an impact on the frequency we see them. A reduction in sea ice reduces habitat for walrus to rest and breed, meaning they may travel further in search of areas with good food supplies and resting spots. Other species are also being affected, with bearded, ringed and hooded seals making an appearance far further south than expected.”
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