(SOUNDBITE OF SEA LION VOCALIZING)
ELISSA NADWORNY, HOST:
With everything going on today, it helps to have adorable sea mammals in your social media feed. Chonkers, the enormous sea lion, went viral this spring. He delighted folks online and in real life at San Francisco's Pier 39 with his impossible size. And news orgs like SF Gate would post videos of him.
(SOUNDBITE OF SEA LION VOCALIZING)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: Ooh. Look how big that is (ph).
NADWORNY: Meanwhile, in Scotland, there's Magnus, the wandering walrus.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Good morning, Magnus.
NADWORNY: He showed up on the Orkney Islands a month ago, and he took a tour of Scotland's piers, sunbathing in front of huge crowds of people, like Louise Hawkins, who posted the experience to YouTube.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Yeah, he's moving. He's moving. He's up, he's up, he's up.
NADWORNY: Walruses are rare in the area. But Emma Neave-Webb of the Orkney Marine Mammal Research Initiative says these visits are becoming more common.
EMMA NEAVE-WEBB: We don't 100% know, the reason why there's a good suggestion that it is climate change, that as things are warming in the Arctic, as ice is melting, the animals are being dispersed out from their colonies.
NADWORNY: And does a sea mammal like Magnus even know he's being watched?
NEAVE-WEBB: I think sometimes he is aware. He might look like he's fast asleep a lot of the time, but I think he is aware that there are people around. And if he gets disturbed, he will go back into the water and move on somewhere.
NADWORNY: After a month layover in Scotland, Magnus has moved on. He was last seen this week in Norway, sitting on a floating dock in the sun. Whether or not he comes back, he'll always have his fans in Scotland, as will BJ Leiderman, who writes our theme music. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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