120-562: Valentia Island ( Irish : Dairbhre , meaning 'oak isle') is one of Ireland 's most westerly points. It lies off the Iveragh Peninsula in the southwest of County Kerry . It is linked to the mainland by the Maurice O'Neill Memorial Bridge at Portmagee . A car ferry also departs from Reenard Point to Knightstown , the island's main settlement, from April to October. Another, smaller village named Chapeltown sits at roughly
240-547: A unique dialect of Irish developed before falling out of use in the early 20th century. With a writing system , Ogham , dating back to at least the 4th century AD, which was gradually replaced by Latin script since the 5th century AD, Irish has one of the oldest vernacular literatures in Western Europe . On the island, the language has three major dialects: Connacht , Munster and Ulster Irish . All three have distinctions in their speech and orthography . There
360-717: A bargaining chip during government formation in Northern Ireland, prompting protests from organisations and groups such as An Dream Dearg . Irish became an official language of the EU on 1 January 2007, meaning that MEPs with Irish fluency can now speak the language in the European Parliament and at committees, although in the case of the latter they have to give prior notice to a simultaneous interpreter in order to ensure that what they say can be interpreted into other languages. While an official language of
480-575: A better future for Ireland and all her citizens." The Strategy was produced on 21 December 2010 and will stay in action until 2030; it aims to target language vitality and revitalization of the Irish language. The 30-page document published by the Government of Ireland details the objectives it plans to work towards in an attempt to preserve and promote both the Irish language and the Gaeltacht. It
600-478: A cultural and social force. Irish speakers often insisted on using the language in law courts (even when they knew English), and Irish was also common in commercial transactions. The language was heavily implicated in the "devotional revolution" which marked the standardisation of Catholic religious practice and was also widely used in a political context. Down to the time of the Great Famine and even afterwards,
720-553: A degree course in the NUI federal system to pass the subject of Irish in the Leaving Certificate or GCE / GCSE examinations. Exemptions are made from this requirement for students who were born or completed primary education outside of Ireland, and students diagnosed with dyslexia . NUI Galway is required to appoint people who are competent in the Irish language, as long as they are also competent in all other aspects of
840-442: A diverse and opportunistic diet, feeding on more than 60 genera of marine organisms, including shrimp , crabs, priapulids , spoon worms , tube worms , soft corals , tunicates , sea cucumbers , various mollusks (such as snails , octopuses , and squid ), some types of slow-moving fish , and even parts of other pinnipeds. However, it prefers benthic bivalve mollusks , especially clams , for which it forages by grazing along
960-460: A fully recognised EU language for the first time in the state's history. Before Irish became an official language it was afforded the status of treaty language and only the highest-level documents of the EU were made available in Irish. The Irish language was carried abroad in the modern period by a vast diaspora , chiefly to Great Britain and North America, but also to Australia , New Zealand and Argentina . The first large movements began in
1080-585: A paper suggested that within a generation, non-Gaeltacht habitual users of Irish might typically be members of an urban, middle class, and highly educated minority. Parliamentary legislation is supposed to be available in both Irish and English but is frequently only available in English. This is notwithstanding that Article 25.4 of the Constitution of Ireland requires that an "official translation" of any law in one official language be provided immediately in
1200-575: A pass in Leaving Certificate Irish or English, and receive lessons in Irish during their two years of training. Official documents of the Irish government must be published in both Irish and English or Irish alone (in accordance with the Official Languages Act 2003, enforced by An Coimisinéir Teanga , the Irish language ombudsman). The National University of Ireland requires all students wishing to embark on
1320-578: A peak in the 1970s-1980s, but subsequently, walrus numbers have again declined. Early aerial censuses of Pacific walrus conducted at five-year intervals between 1975 and 1985 estimated populations of above 220,000 in each of the three surveys. In 2006, the population of the Pacific walrus was estimated to be around 129,000 on the basis of an aerial census combined with satellite tracking. There were roughly 200,000 Pacific walruses in 1990. The much smaller population of Atlantic walruses ranges from
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#17327727305591440-399: A primitive vertebrate passed near a river margin in the sub-equatorial river basin that is now southwestern Ireland and left prints in the damp sand. The prints were preserved by silt and sand overlying them, and were converted to rock over geological time. The Valentia Island trackways are among the oldest signs of vertebrate life on land. On 14 March 2021, Valentia Island was the site of
1560-625: A religious context. An Irish translation of the Old Testament by Leinsterman Muircheartach Ó Cíonga , commissioned by Bishop Bedell , was published after 1685 along with a translation of the New Testament. Otherwise, Anglicisation was seen as synonymous with 'civilising' the native Irish. Currently, modern day Irish speakers in the church are pushing for language revival. It has been estimated that there were around 800,000 monoglot Irish speakers in 1800, which dropped to 320,000 by
1680-547: A result of linguistic imperialism . Today, Irish is still commonly spoken as a first language in Ireland's Gaeltacht regions, in which 2% of Ireland's population lived in 2022. The total number of people (aged 3 and over) in Ireland who declared they could speak Irish in April 2022 was 1,873,997, representing 40% of respondents, but of these, 472,887 said they never spoke it and a further 551,993 said they only spoke it within
1800-534: A seasonal vehicle ferry service from Knightstown. Valentia Young Islanders GAA is the local Gaelic Athletic Association club. Valentia is a popular fishing location, and Valentia waters hold the Irish records for conger eel , red sea bream , Ray's bream and lesser spotted dogfish . [REDACTED] Media related to Valentia Island at Wikimedia Commons Irish language Irish ( Standard Irish : Gaeilge ), also known as Irish Gaelic or simply Gaelic ( / ˈ ɡ eɪ l ɪ k / GAY -lik ),
1920-556: A significant portion (about 42%) of struck and lost animals. Several hundred are removed annually around Greenland. The sustainability of these levels of harvest is difficult to determine given uncertain population estimates and parameters such as fecundity and mortality . The Boone and Crockett Big Game Record book has entries for Atlantic and Pacific walrus. The recorded largest tusks are just over 30 inches and 37 inches long respectively. The effects of global climate change are another element of concern. The extent and thickness of
2040-445: A single ancestor, or diphyletic , recent genetic evidence suggests all three descended from a caniform ancestor most closely related to modern bears. Recent multigene analysis indicates the odobenids and otariids diverged from the phocids about 20–26 million years ago, while the odobenids and the otariids separated 15–20 million years ago. Odobenidae was once a highly diverse and widespread family, including at least twenty species in
2160-527: A single walrus was sighted on the shores of the Baltic Sea - at Rügen Island, Germany , Mielno , Poland and Skälder Bay , Sweden . In July 2022, there was a report of a lost, starving walrus (nicknamed as Stena ) in the coastal waters of the towns of Hamina and Kotka in Kymenlaakso , Finland , that, despite rescue attempts, died of starvation when the rescuers tried to transport it to
2280-458: A substantial breeding population occurred on isolated Sable Island , 100 mi (160 km) southeast of Nova Scotia and 500 mi (800 km) due east of Portland, Maine , until the early Colonial period. Abundant walrus remains have also been recovered from the southern North Sea dating to the Eemian interglacial period, when that region would have been submerged as it is today, unlike
2400-691: A temporary longitude observatory beside the Foilhommerum Cable Station to support synchronized longitude observations with Heart's Content , Newfoundland. After many rainy and cloudy days, the first transatlantic longitude signals were exchanged between Foilhommerum and Heart's Content on 24 October 1866. The transatlantic cable is currently on the tentative list of UNESCO World Hertiage sites. On 21 May 1927, Charles A. Lindbergh made his first landfall in Europe over Dingle Bay and Valentia Island on his solo flight from New York to Paris. On
2520-711: A vital art form. According to Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld , European hunters and Arctic explorers found walrus meat not particularly tasty, and only ate it in case of necessity; however walrus tongue was a delicacy. Walrus hunts are regulated by resource managers in Russia , the United States, Canada, and Greenland , and by representatives of the respective hunting communities. An estimated four to seven thousand Pacific walruses are harvested in Alaska and in Russia, including
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#17327727305592640-545: A wider meaning, including the Gaelic of Scotland and the Isle of Man , as well as of Ireland. When required by the context, these are distinguished as Gaeilge na hAlban , Gaeilge Mhanann and Gaeilge na hÉireann respectively. In English (including Hiberno-English ), the language is usually referred to as Irish , as well as Gaelic and Irish Gaelic . The term Irish Gaelic may be seen when English speakers discuss
2760-436: A year before weaning, but the young can spend up to five years with the mothers. Walrus milk contains higher amounts of fats and protein compared to land animals but lower compared to phocid seals . This lower fat content in turn causes a slower growth rate among calves and a longer nursing investment for their mothers. Because ovulation is suppressed until the calf is weaned, females give birth at most every two years, leaving
2880-701: Is Scandinavian. The Norwegian manuscript Konungs skuggsjá , thought to date from around AD 1240, refers to the walrus as rosmhvalr in Iceland and rostungr in Greenland (walruses were by now extinct in Iceland and Norway, while the word evolved in Greenland). Several place names in Iceland, Greenland and Norway may originate from walrus sites: Hvalfjord, Hvallatrar and Hvalsnes to name some, all being typical walrus breeding grounds. The archaic English word for walrus— morse —is widely thought to have come from
3000-603: Is a Celtic language of the Indo-European language family . It is a member of the Goidelic language group of the Insular Celtic sub branch of the family and is indigenous to the island of Ireland . It was the majority of the population's first language until the 19th century, when English gradually became dominant, particularly in the last decades of the century, in what is sometimes characterised as
3120-741: Is a large pinniped marine mammal with discontinuous distribution about the North Pole in the Arctic Ocean and subarctic seas of the Northern Hemisphere . It is the only extant species in the family Odobenidae and genus Odobenus . This species is subdivided into two subspecies : the Atlantic walrus ( O. r. rosmarus ), which lives in the Atlantic Ocean , and the Pacific walrus ( O. r. divergens ), which lives in
3240-452: Is also An Caighdeán Oifigiúil , a standardised written form devised by a parliamentary commission in the 1950s. The traditional Irish alphabet , a variant of the Latin alphabet with 18 letters , has been succeeded by the standard Latin alphabet (albeit with 7–8 letters used primarily in loanwords ). Irish has constitutional status as the national and first official language of
3360-511: Is divided into four separate phases with the intention of improving 9 main areas of action including: The general goal for this strategy was to increase the number of daily speakers from 83,000 to 250,000 by the end of its run. By 2022, the number of such speakers had fallen to 71,968. Before the partition of Ireland in 1921, Irish was recognised as a school subject and as "Celtic" in some third level institutions. Between 1921 and 1972, Northern Ireland had devolved government. During those years
3480-499: Is estimated to have been at least 2,300 kg (5,000 lb). The Atlantic subspecies weighs about 10–20% less than the Pacific subspecies. Male Atlantic walrus weigh an average of 900 kg (2,000 lb). The Atlantic walrus also tends to have relatively shorter tusks and somewhat more of a flattened snout . Females weigh about two-thirds as much as males, with the Atlantic females averaging 560 kg (1,230 lb), sometimes weighing as little as 400 kg (880 lb), and
3600-411: Is highly variable, they generally have relatively few teeth other than the tusks. The maximal number of teeth is 38 with dentition formula: 3.1.4.2 3.1.3.2 , but over half of the teeth are rudimentary and occur with less than 50% frequency, such that a typical dentition includes only 18 teeth 1.1.3.0 0.1.3.0 Surrounding the tusks is a broad mat of stiff bristles ("mystacial vibrissae "), giving
3720-414: Is little evidence to prove this. Due to its great size and tusks, the walrus has only two natural predators: the orca and the polar bear . The walrus does not, however, comprise a significant component of either of these predators' diets. Both the orca and the polar bear are also most likely to prey on walrus calves. The polar bear often hunts the walrus by rushing at beached aggregations and consuming
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3840-408: Is more like that of true seals, relying less on flippers and more on sinuous whole body movements. Also like phocids, it lacks external ears. The extraocular muscles of the walrus are well-developed. This and its lack of orbital roof allow it to protrude its eyes and see in both a frontal and dorsal direction. However, vision in this species appears to be more suited for short-range. While this
3960-587: Is only in Gaeltacht areas that Irish continues to be spoken as a community vernacular to some extent. According to data compiled by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht , Sport and Media , only 1/4 of households in Gaeltacht areas are fluent in Irish. The author of a detailed analysis of the survey, Donncha Ó hÉallaithe of the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology , described
4080-646: Is restricted according to a CITES Appendix 3 listing. In October 2017, the Center for Biological Diversity announced they would sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to force it to classify the Pacific Walrus as a threatened or endangered species. In 1952, walruses in Svalbard were nearly gone due to ivory hunting over a 300 years period, but the Norwegian government banned their commercial hunting and
4200-412: Is still spoken daily to some extent as a first language . These regions are known individually and collectively as the Gaeltacht (plural Gaeltachtaí ). While the fluent Irish speakers of these areas, whose numbers have been estimated at 20–30,000, are a minority of the total number of fluent Irish speakers, they represent a higher concentration of Irish speakers than other parts of the country and it
4320-666: The Fíor-Ghaeltacht (true Gaeltacht ), a term originally officially applied to areas where over 50% of the population spoke Irish. There are Gaeltacht regions in the following counties: Gweedore ( Gaoth Dobhair ), County Donegal, is the largest Gaeltacht parish in Ireland. Irish language summer colleges in the Gaeltacht are attended by tens of thousands of teenagers annually. Students live with Gaeltacht families, attend classes, participate in sports, go to céilithe and are obliged to speak Irish. All aspects of Irish culture and tradition are encouraged. The Act
4440-688: The Chukchi Sea through the relatively narrow Bering Strait . The majority of the population of the Pacific walrus spends its summers north of the Bering Strait in the Chukchi Sea of the Arctic Ocean along the northern coast of eastern Siberia , around Wrangel Island , in the Beaufort Sea along the northern shore of Alaska south to Unimak Island , and in the waters between those locations. Smaller numbers of males summer in
4560-833: The Gulf of Anadyr on the southern coast of the Siberian Chukchi Peninsula , and in Bristol Bay off the southern coast of Alaska, west of the Alaska Peninsula . In the spring and fall, walruses congregate throughout the Bering Strait, reaching from the western coast of Alaska to the Gulf of Anadyr. They winter over in the Bering Sea along the eastern coast of Siberia south to the northern part of
4680-493: The Kamchatka Peninsula , and along the southern coast of Alaska. A 28,000-year-old fossil walrus was dredged up from the bottom of San Francisco Bay , indicating that Pacific walruses ranged that far south during the last Ice Age . Commercial harvesting reduced the population of the Pacific walrus to between 50,000 and 100,000 in the 1950s–1960s. Limits on commercial hunting allowed the population to increase to
4800-721: The Korkeasaari Zoo for treatment. Walruses prefer shallow shelf regions and forage primarily on the sea floor, often from sea ice platforms. They are not particularly deep divers compared to other pinnipeds; the deepest dives in a study of Atlantic walrus near Svalbard were only 31 ± 17 m (102 ± 56 ft). However, a more recent study recorded dives exceeding 500 metres (1,600 ft) in Smith Sound , between NW Greenland and Arctic Canada – in general, peak dive depth can be expected to depend on prey distribution and seabed depth. The walrus has
4920-462: The Pacific Ocean . Adult walrus are characterised by prominent tusks and whiskers , and considerable bulk: adult males in the Pacific can weigh more than 2,000 kilograms (4,400 pounds) and, among pinnipeds , are exceeded in size only by the two species of elephant seals . Walrus live mostly in shallow waters above the continental shelves , spending significant amounts of their lives on
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5040-631: The Republic of Ireland , and is also an official language of Northern Ireland and among the official languages of the European Union . The public body Foras na Gaeilge is responsible for the promotion of the language throughout the island. Irish has no regulatory body but An Caighdeán Oifigiúil , the standard written form, is guided by a parliamentary service and new vocabulary by a voluntary committee with university input. In An Caighdeán Oifigiúil ("The Official [Written] Standard ")
5160-746: The Slavic languages , which in turn borrowed it from Finno-Ugric languages, and ultimately (according to Ante Aikio ) from an unknown Pre-Finno-Ugric substrate language of Northern Europe. Compare морж ( morž ) in Russian, mursu in Finnish , morša in Northern Saami , and morse in French. Olaus Magnus , who depicted the walrus in the Carta Marina in 1539, first referred to
5280-463: The blastula in suspended development before it implants itself in the uterus. This strategy of delayed implantation , common among pinnipeds, presumably evolved to optimize both the mating season and the birthing season, determined by ecological conditions that promote newborn survival. Calves are born during the spring migration, from April to June. They weigh 45 to 75 kg (99 to 165 lb) at birth and are able to swim. The mothers nurse for over
5400-570: The sea ice looking for benthic bivalve molluscs . Walruses are relatively long-lived, social animals, and are considered to be a " keystone species " in the Arctic marine regions. The walrus has played a prominent role in the cultures of many indigenous Arctic peoples , who have hunted it for meat, fat, skin, tusks, and bone. During the 19th century and the early 20th century, walrus were widely hunted for their blubber , walrus ivory , and meat. The population of walruses dropped rapidly all around
5520-571: The 17th century, largely as a result of the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland , which saw many Irish sent to the West Indies . Irish emigration to the United States was well established by the 18th century, and was reinforced in the 1840s by thousands fleeing from the Famine . This flight also affected Britain. Up until that time most emigrants spoke Irish as their first language, though English
5640-458: The 18th and 19th centuries, the walrus was heavily exploited by American and European sealers and whalers , leading to the near- extirpation of the Atlantic subspecies. As early as 1871 traditional hunters were expressing concern about the numbers of walrus being hunted by whaling fleets. Commercial walrus harvesting is now outlawed throughout its range, although Chukchi , Yupik and Inuit peoples are permitted to kill small numbers towards
5760-454: The 1927 Mercator chart used by the famous pilot, it was labeled Valencia. In 1993 an undergraduate geology student discovered fossilised tetrapod trackways , footprints preserved in Devonian rocks, on the north coast of the island at Dohilla ( 51°55′51″N 10°20′38″W / 51.930868°N 10.343849°W / 51.930868; -10.343849 ). About 385 million years ago,
5880-789: The 1998 Good Friday Agreement , the language gradually received a degree of formal recognition in Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom, and then, in 2003, by the British government's ratification in respect of the language of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages . In the 2006 St Andrews Agreement the British government promised to enact legislation to promote the language and in 2022 it approved legislation to recognise Irish as an official language alongside English. The bill received royal assent on 6 December 2022. The Irish language has often been used as
6000-403: The 6th century, used the Latin alphabet and is attested primarily in marginalia to Latin manuscripts. During this time, the Irish language absorbed some Latin words, some via Old Welsh , including ecclesiastical terms : examples are easpag (bishop) from episcopus , and Domhnach (Sunday, from dominica ). By the 10th century, Old Irish had evolved into Middle Irish , which
6120-571: The Act all detailing different aspects of the use of Irish in official documentation and communication. Included in these sections are subjects such as Irish language use in official courts, official publications, and placenames. The Act was recently amended in December 2019 in order to strengthen the already preexisting legislation. All changes made took into account data collected from online surveys and written submissions. The Official Languages Scheme
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#17327727305596240-422: The Arctic region. It has rebounded somewhat since, though the populations of Atlantic and Laptev walruses remain fragmented and at low levels compared with the time before human interference. The origin of the word walrus derives from a Germanic language , and it has been attributed largely to either Dutch or Old Norse . Its first part is thought to derive from a word such as Old Norse hvalr ('whale') and
6360-503: The Atlantic and Pacific subspecies indicate very restricted gene flow, but relatively recent separation, estimated at 500,000 and 785,000 years ago. These dates coincide with the hypothesis derived from fossils that the walrus evolved from a tropical or subtropical ancestor that became isolated in the Atlantic Ocean and gradually adapted to colder conditions in the Arctic. The modern walrus is mostly known from Arctic regions, but
6480-487: The Canadian Arctic, across Greenland , Svalbard , and the western part of Arctic Russia. There are eight hypothetical subpopulations of Atlantic walruses, based largely on their geographical distribution and movements: five west of Greenland and three east of Greenland. The Atlantic walrus once ranged south to Sable Island , off of Nova Scotia ; as late as the 18th century, they could be found in large numbers in
6600-471: The European Union , only co-decision regulations were available until 2022, due to a five-year derogation, requested by the Irish Government when negotiating the language's new official status. The Irish government had committed itself to train the necessary number of translators and interpreters and to bear the related costs. This derogation ultimately came to an end on 1 January 2022, making Irish
6720-738: The Greater Gulf of St. Lawrence region, sometimes in colonies of 7-8,000 individuals. This population was nearly eradicated by commercial harvest; their current numbers, though difficult to estimate, probably remain below 20,000. In April 2006, the Canadian Species at Risk Act listed the populations of northwestern Atlantic walrus in Québec , New Brunswick, Nova Scotia , Newfoundland and Labrador as having been eradicated in Canada. A genetically distinct population existed in Iceland that
6840-549: The Irish language policy followed by Irish governments as a "complete and absolute disaster". The Irish Times , referring to his analysis published in the Irish language newspaper Foinse , quoted him as follows: "It is an absolute indictment of successive Irish Governments that at the foundation of the Irish State there were 250,000 fluent Irish speakers living in Irish-speaking or semi Irish-speaking areas, but
6960-458: The Irish name of Valentia Harbour, cuan Bhéil Inse , "harbour-mouth of the island". It was anglicized as 'Bealinche' and 'Ballentia' before evolving into 'Valentia'. It is possible the spelling was influenced by Spanish sailors; there is a grave marker to Spanish sailors lost at sea in the Catholic cemetery at Kylemore. The Irish name for the island is Dairbhre , probably meaning "oak isle". It
7080-430: The Pacific female averaging 800 kg (1,800 lb). Length typically ranges from 2.2 to 3.6 m (7 ft 3 in to 11 ft 10 in). Newborn walruses are already quite large, averaging 33 to 85 kg (73 to 187 lb) in weight and 1 to 1.4 m (3 ft 3 in to 4 ft 7 in) in length across both sexes and subspecies. All told, the walrus is the third largest pinniped species, after
7200-531: The Pacific subspecies far exceeds normal dimensions. In 1909, a walrus hide weighing 500 kg (1,100 lb) was collected from an enormous bull in Franz Josef Land , while in August 1910, Jack Woodson shot a 4.9-metre-long (16 ft) walrus, harvesting its 450 kg (1,000 lb) hide. Since a walrus's hide usually accounts for about 20% of its body weight, the total body mass of these two giants
7320-495: The Pacific, but the importance of seals in the walrus diet is under debate. There have been isolated observations of walruses preying on seals up to the size of a 200 kg (440 lb) bearded seal . Rarely, incidents of walruses preying on seabirds, particularly the Brünnich's guillemot ( Uria lomvia ), have been documented. Walruses may occasionally prey on ice-entrapped narwhals and scavenge on whale carcasses but there
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#17327727305597440-620: The Republic of Ireland ), new appointees to the Civil Service of the Republic of Ireland , including postal workers , tax collectors , agricultural inspectors, Garda Síochána (police), etc., were required to have some proficiency in Irish. By law, a Garda who was addressed in Irish had to respond in Irish as well. In 1974, in part through the actions of protest organisations like the Language Freedom Movement ,
7560-577: The beginning of the following academic year. For a number of years there has been vigorous debate in political, academic and other circles about the failure of most students in English-medium schools to achieve competence in Irish, even after fourteen years of teaching as one of the three main subjects. The concomitant decline in the number of traditional native speakers has also been a cause of great concern. In 2007, filmmaker Manchán Magan found few Irish speakers in Dublin , and faced incredulity when trying to get by speaking only Irish in Dublin. He
7680-450: The biological walrus's appetite for bivalve mollusks, oysters, primarily nearshore and intertidal inhabitants, these organisms in fact comprise an insignificant portion of its diet in captivity. The "walrus" in the cryptic song " I Am the Walrus " by the Beatles is a reference to the Lewis Carroll poem. Another appearance of the walrus in literature is in the story "The White Seal" in Rudyard Kipling 's The Jungle Book , where it
7800-664: The education system. Linguistic analyses of Irish speakers are therefore based primarily on the number of daily users in Ireland outside the education system, which in 2022 was 20,261 in the Gaeltacht and 51,707 outside it, totalling 71,968. In response to the 2021 census of Northern Ireland , 43,557 individuals stated they spoke Irish on a daily basis, 26,286 spoke it on a weekly basis, 47,153 spoke it less often than weekly, and 9,758 said they could speak Irish, but never spoke it. From 2006 to 2008, over 22,000 Irish Americans reported speaking Irish as their first language at home, with several times that number claiming "some knowledge" of
7920-623: The end of each summer. Traditional hunters used all parts of the walrus. The meat, often preserved, is an important winter nutrition source; the flippers are fermented and stored as a delicacy until spring; tusks and bone were historically used for tools, as well as material for handicrafts; the oil was rendered for warmth and light; the tough hide made rope and house and boat coverings; and the intestines and gut linings made waterproof parkas. While some of these uses have faded with access to alternative technologies, walrus meat remains an important part of local diets, and tusk carving and engraving remain
8040-414: The end of the famine, and under 17,000 by 1911. Irish is recognised by the Constitution of Ireland as the national and first official language of Republic of Ireland (English being the other official language). Despite this, almost all government business and legislative debate is conducted in English. In 1938, the founder of Conradh na Gaeilge (Gaelic League), Douglas Hyde , was inaugurated as
8160-430: The first President of Ireland . The record of his delivering his inaugural Declaration of Office in Roscommon Irish is one of only a few recordings of that dialect. In the 2016 census, 10.5% of respondents stated that they spoke Irish, either daily or weekly, while over 70,000 people (4.2%) speak it as a habitual daily means of communication. From the foundation of the Irish Free State in 1922 (see History of
8280-444: The first walrus sighting in Ireland. The combined features and history of the island make it an attractive tourist destination , easily accessible from the popular Ring of Kerry route. Valentia Island has an oceanic climate ( Cfb ). Sitting on the eastern edge of the Atlantic Ocean, Valentia Island is, on average, the wettest weather station in Ireland. Despite its being on the same latitude as St. Anthony in Newfoundland on
8400-401: The increase of stampeding deaths crowding the shorelines of the Chukchi Sea between eastern Russia and western Alaska. Analysis of trends in ice cover published in 2012 indicate that Pacific walrus populations are likely to continue to decline for the foreseeable future, and shift further north, but that careful conservation management might be able to limit these effects. Currently, two of
8520-437: The individuals crushed or wounded in the sudden exodus, typically younger or infirm animals. The bears also isolate walruses when they overwinter and are unable to escape a charging bear due to inaccessible diving holes in the ice. However, even an injured walrus is a formidable opponent for a polar bear, and direct attacks are rare. Armed with its ivory tusks, walruses have been known to fatally injure polar bears in battles if
8640-858: The intervening glacial lowstand when the shallow North Sea was dry land. Fossils known from San Francisco , Vancouver , and the Atlantic US coast as far south as North Carolina have been referred to glacial periods. An isolated population in the Laptev Sea was considered by some authorities, including many Russian biologists and the canonical Mammal Species of the World , to be a third subspecies, O. r. laptevi (Chapskii, 1940), but has since been determined to be of Pacific walrus origin. While some outsized Pacific males can weigh as much as 2,000 kg (4,400 lb), most weigh between 800 and 1,700 kg (1,800 and 3,700 lb). An occasional male of
8760-716: The language family, is derived from the Old Irish term. Endonyms of the language in the various modern Irish dialects include: Gaeilge [ˈɡeːlʲɟə] in Galway, Gaeilg / Gaeilic / Gaeilig [ˈɡeːlʲəc] in Mayo and Ulster , Gaelainn / Gaoluinn [ˈɡeːl̪ˠən̠ʲ] in West/Cork, Kerry Munster , as well as Gaedhealaing in mid and East Kerry/Cork and Waterford Munster to reflect local pronunciation. Gaeilge also has
8880-410: The language was in use by all classes, Irish being an urban as well as a rural language. This linguistic dynamism was reflected in the efforts of certain public intellectuals to counter the decline of the language. At the end of the 19th century, they launched the Gaelic revival in an attempt to encourage the learning and use of Irish, although few adult learners mastered the language. The vehicle of
9000-476: The language. For most of recorded Irish history , Irish was the dominant language of the Irish people , who took it with them to other regions , such as Scotland and the Isle of Man , where Middle Irish gave rise to Scottish Gaelic and Manx . It was also, for a period, spoken widely across Canada , with an estimated 200,000–250,000 daily Canadian speakers of Irish in 1890. On the island of Newfoundland ,
9120-404: The large numbers of organisms actually consumed by the walrus, its foraging has a large peripheral impact on benthic communities. It disturbs ( bioturbates ) the sea floor, releasing nutrients into the water column, encouraging mixing and movement of many organisms and increasing the patchiness of the benthos . Seal tissue has been observed in a fairly significant proportion of walrus stomachs in
9240-502: The largest of any land mammal, both in absolute size and relative to body size. Walruses live to about 20–30 years old in the wild. The males reach sexual maturity as early as seven years, but do not typically mate until fully developed at around 15 years of age. They rut from January through April, decreasing their food intake dramatically. The females begin ovulating as soon as four to six years old. The females are diestrous , coming into heat in late summer and around February, yet
9360-416: The largest tusks typically dominate social groups. Tusks are also used to form and maintain holes in the ice and aid the walrus in climbing out of water onto ice. Tusks were once thought to be used to dig out prey from the seabed, but analyses of abrasion patterns on the tusks indicate they are dragged through the sediment while the upper edge of the snout is used for digging. While the dentition of walruses
9480-486: The latter follows the other into the water, where the bear is at a disadvantage. Polar bear–walrus battles are often extremely protracted and exhausting, and bears have been known to break away from the attack after injuring a walrus. Orcas regularly attack walruses, although walruses are believed to have successfully defended themselves via counterattack against the larger cetacean. However, orcas have been observed successfully attacking walruses with few or no injuries. In
9600-467: The males are fertile only around February; the potential fertility of this second period is unknown. Breeding occurs from January to March, peaking in February. Males aggregate in the water around ice-bound groups of estrous females and engage in competitive vocal displays. The females join them and copulate in the water. Gestation lasts 15 to 16 months. The first three to four months are spent with
9720-526: The mid-18th century, English was becoming a language of the Catholic middle class, the Catholic Church and public intellectuals, especially in the east of the country. Increasingly, as the value of English became apparent, parents sanctioned the prohibition of Irish in schools. Increasing interest in emigrating to the United States and Canada was also a driver, as fluency in English allowed
9840-473: The midpoint of the island, three kilometres (two miles) from the bridge. Valentia Island's permanent population is 658 (as of the 2022 CSO Census ). It is about 11 kilometres (7 miles) long by almost three kilometres (two miles) wide, making it the fifth-biggest island off the Irish coast . The English name 'Valentia' or 'Valencia' Island does not come from the Spanish city of Valencia . Instead it comes from
9960-804: The name of the language is Gaeilge , from the South Connacht form, spelled Gaedhilge prior the spelling reform of 1948, which was originally the genitive of Gaedhealg , the form used in Classical Gaelic . The modern spelling results from the deletion of the silent ⟨dh⟩ in Gaedhilge . Older spellings include Gaoidhealg [ˈɡeːʝəlˠəɡ] in Classical Gaelic and Goídelc [ˈɡoiðʲelɡ] in Old Irish . Goidelic , used to refer to
10080-518: The nearby ice floes) hunting for bivalves . In March 2021, a single walrus, nicknamed Wally the Walrus , was sighted at Valentia Island , Ireland , far south of its typical range, potentially due to having fallen asleep on an iceberg that then drifted south towards Ireland. Days later, a walrus, thought to be the same animal, was spotted on the Pembrokeshire coast, Wales . In June 2022,
10200-469: The new immigrants to get jobs in areas other than farming. An estimated one quarter to one third of US immigrants during the Great Famine were Irish speakers. Irish was not marginal to Ireland's modernisation in the 19th century, as is often assumed. In the first half of the century there were still around three million people for whom Irish was the primary language, and their numbers alone made them
10320-655: The number now is between 20,000 and 30,000." In the 1920s, when the Irish Free State was founded, Irish was still a vernacular in some western coastal areas. In the 1930s, areas where more than 25% of the population spoke Irish were classified as Gaeltacht . Today, the strongest Gaeltacht areas, numerically and socially, are those of South Connemara , the west of the Dingle Peninsula , and northwest Donegal, where many residents still use Irish as their primary language. These areas are often referred to as
10440-457: The opposite side of the Atlantic, it enjoys much milder winters thanks to the moderating effect of prevailing west or southwest winds, and the effects of the warming Gulf Stream current. Snow and frost are rare, and because of this the island can support many sub-tropical varieties of plants. The R565 road is the main road onto the island. There are two connections to the Irish mainland, the fixed Maurice O'Neill Memorial Bridge to Portmagee, and
10560-503: The other official language, if not already passed in both official languages. In November 2016, RTÉ reported that over 2.3 million people worldwide were learning Irish through the Duolingo app. Irish president Michael D. Higgins officially honoured several volunteer translators for developing the Irish edition, and said the push for Irish language rights remains an "unfinished project". There are rural areas of Ireland where Irish
10680-522: The pack ice has reached unusually low levels in several recent years. The walrus relies on this ice while giving birth and aggregating in the reproductive period. Thinner pack ice over the Bering Sea has reduced the amount of resting habitat near optimal feeding grounds. This more widely separates lactating females from their calves, increasing nutritional stress for the young and lower reproductive rates. Reduced coastal sea ice has also been implicated in
10800-557: The political party holding power in the Stormont Parliament , the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), was hostile to the language. The context of this hostility was the use of the language by nationalists. In broadcasting, there was an exclusion on the reporting of minority cultural issues, and Irish was excluded from radio and television for almost the first fifty years of the previous devolved government. After
10920-492: The relationship between the three Goidelic languages (Irish, Scottish Gaelic and Manx). Gaelic is a collective term for the Goidelic languages, and when the context is clear it may be used without qualification to refer to each language individually. When the context is specific but unclear, the term may be qualified, as Irish Gaelic, Scottish Gaelic or Manx Gaelic. Historically the name "Erse" ( / ɜːr s / URS )
11040-432: The requirement for entrance to the public service was changed to proficiency in just one official language. Nevertheless, Irish remains a required subject of study in all schools in the Republic of Ireland that receive public money (see Education in the Republic of Ireland ). Teachers in primary schools must also pass a compulsory examination called Scrúdú Cáilíochta sa Ghaeilge . As of 2005, Garda Síochána recruits need
11160-647: The revival was the Gaelic League ( Conradh na Gaeilge ), and particular emphasis was placed on the folk tradition, which in Irish is particularly rich. Efforts were also made to develop journalism and a modern literature. Although it has been noted that the Catholic Church played a role in the decline of the Irish language before the Gaelic Revival, the Protestant Church of Ireland also made only minor efforts to encourage use of Irish in
11280-493: The sea bottom, searching and identifying prey with its sensitive vibrissae and clearing the murky bottoms with jets of water and active flipper movements. The walrus sucks the meat out by sealing its powerful lips to the organism and withdrawing its piston-like tongue rapidly into its mouth, creating a vacuum. The walrus palate is uniquely vaulted, enabling effective suction. The diet of the Pacific walrus consist almost exclusively of benthic invertebrates (97 percent). Aside from
11400-645: The sea, who is in turn linked to the Inuit goddess Sedna . Both in Chukotka and Alaska , the aurora borealis is believed to be a special world inhabited by those who died by violence, the changing rays representing deceased souls playing ball with a walrus head. Most of the distinctive 12th-century Lewis Chessmen from northern Europe are carved from walrus ivory, though a few have been found to be made of whales' teeth. Because of its distinctive appearance, great bulk, and immediately recognizable whiskers and tusks,
11520-539: The second part has been hypothesized to come from the Old Norse word hross ('horse'). For example, the Old Norse word hrosshvalr means 'horse-whale' and is thought to have been passed in an inverted form to both Dutch and the dialects of northern Germany as walros and Walross . An alternative theory is that it comes from the Dutch words wal 'shore' and reus 'giant'. The species name rosmarus
11640-468: The subfamilies Imagotariinae, Dusignathinae and Odobeninae. The key distinguishing feature was the development of a squirt/suction feeding mechanism; tusks are a later feature specific to Odobeninae, of which the modern walrus is the last remaining ( relict ) species. Two subspecies of walrus are widely recognized: the Atlantic walrus, O. r. rosmarus (Linnaeus, 1758) and the Pacific walrus, O. r. divergens (Illiger, 1815). Fixed genetic differences between
11760-466: The sun and the moon from an evil spirit by seducing his daughter, the angry father throws the daughter from a high cliff and, as she drops into the water, she turns into a walrus . According to various legends, the tusks are formed either by the trails of mucus from the weeping girl or her long braids. This myth is possibly related to the Chukchi myth of the old walrus-headed woman who rules the bottom of
11880-720: The three walrus subspecies are listed as "least-concern" by the IUCN , while the third is "data deficient". The Pacific walrus is not listed as "depleted" according to the Marine Mammal Protection Act nor as "threatened" or "endangered" under the Endangered Species Act . The Russian Atlantic and Laptev Sea populations are classified as Category 2 (decreasing) and Category 3 (rare) in the Russian Red Book . Global trade in walrus ivory
12000-723: The transatlantic telegraph, American longitude measurements had a 850-metre (2,800 ft) uncertainty with respect to European longitudes. Because of the importance of accurate longitudes to safe navigation, the United States Coast Survey mounted a longitude expedition in 1866 to link longitudes in the United States accurately to the Royal Observatory in Greenwich . Benjamin Gould and his partner A. T. Mosman reached Valentia on 2 October 1866. They built
12120-428: The two elephant seals . Walruses maintain such a high body weight because of the blubber stored underneath their skin. This blubber keeps them warm and the fat provides energy to the walrus. The walrus's body shape shares features with both sea lions ( eared seals : Otariidae) and seals ( true seals : Phocidae). As with otariids, it can turn its rear flippers forward and move on all fours; however, its swimming technique
12240-726: The vacancy to which they are appointed. This requirement is laid down by the University College Galway Act, 1929 (Section 3). In 2016, the university faced controversy when it announced the planned appointment of a president who did not speak Irish. Misneach staged protests against this decision. The following year the university announced that Ciarán Ó hÓgartaigh , a fluent Irish speaker, would be its 13th president. He assumed office in January 2018; in June 2024, he announced he would be stepping down as president at
12360-429: The vibrissae, the walrus is sparsely covered with fur and appears bald. Its skin is highly wrinkled and thick, up to 10 cm (4 in) around the neck and shoulders of males. The blubber layer beneath is up to 15 cm (6 in) thick. Young walruses are deep brown and grow paler and more cinnamon-colored as they age. Old males, in particular, become nearly pink. Because skin blood vessels constrict in cold water,
12480-494: The walrus a characteristic whiskered appearance. There can be 400 to 700 vibrissae in 13 to 15 rows reaching 30 cm (12 in) in length, though in the wild they are often worn to much shorter lengths due to constant use in foraging. The vibrissae are attached to muscles and are supplied with blood and nerves, making them highly sensitive organs capable of differentiating shapes 3 mm ( 1 ⁄ 8 in) thick and 2 mm ( 3 ⁄ 32 in) wide. Aside from
12600-633: The walrus also appears in the popular cultures of peoples with little direct experience with the animal, particularly in English children's literature. Perhaps its best-known appearance is in Lewis Carroll 's whimsical poem " The Walrus and the Carpenter " that appears in his 1871 book Through the Looking-Glass . In the poem, the eponymous antiheroes use trickery to consume a great number of oysters . Although Carroll accurately portrays
12720-542: The walrus as the ros marus , probably a Latinization of morž , and this was adopted by Linnaeus in his binomial nomenclature . The coincidental similarity between morse and the Latin word morsus ('a bite') supposedly contributed to the walrus's reputation as a "terrible monster". The compound Odobenus comes from odous ( Greek for 'teeth') and baino (Greek for 'walk'), based on observations of walruses using their tusks to pull themselves out of
12840-420: The walrus can appear almost white when swimming. As a secondary sexual characteristic , males also acquire significant nodules, called "bosses", particularly around the neck and shoulders. The walrus has an air sac under its throat which acts like a flotation bubble and allows it to bob vertically in the water and sleep. The males possess a large baculum (penis bone), up to 63 cm (25 in) in length,
12960-414: The walrus with the lowest reproductive rate of any pinniped. The rest of the year (late summer and fall), walruses tend to form massive aggregations of tens of thousands of individuals on rocky beaches or outcrops. The migration between the ice and the beach can be long-distance and dramatic. In late spring and summer, for example, several hundred thousand Pacific walruses migrate from the Bering Sea into
13080-517: The walruses began to repopulate. By 2018, the population had increased to an estimated 5,503 walruses in the Svalbard area. The walrus plays an important role in the religion and folklore of many Arctic peoples. Skin and bone are used in some ceremonies, and the animal appears frequently in legends. For example, in a Chukchi version of the widespread myth of the Raven , in which Raven recovers
13200-589: The water. The term divergens in Latin means 'turning apart', referring to their tusks. The Inuttitut term for the creature is aivik , similar to the Inuktitut word: aiviq ᐊᐃᕕᖅ. The walrus is a mammal in the order Carnivora . It is the sole surviving member of the family Odobenidae, one of three lineages in the suborder Pinnipedia along with true seals ( Phocidae ) and eared seals ( Otariidae ). While there has been some debate as to whether all three lineages are monophyletic , i.e. descended from
13320-594: The work of such writers as Geoffrey Keating , is said to date from the 17th century, and was the medium of popular literature from that time on. From the 18th century on, the language lost ground in the east of the country. The reasons behind this shift were complex but came down to a number of factors: The change was characterised by diglossia (two languages being used by the same community in different social and economic situations) and transitional bilingualism (monoglot Irish-speaking grandparents with bilingual children and monoglot English-speaking grandchildren). By
13440-531: Was also sometimes used in Scots and then in English to refer to Irish; as well as Scottish Gaelic. Written Irish is first attested in Ogham inscriptions from the 4th century AD, a stage of the language known as Primitive Irish . These writings have been found throughout Ireland and the west coast of Great Britain. Primitive Irish underwent a change into Old Irish through the 5th century. Old Irish, dating from
13560-668: Was enacted 1 July 2019 and is an 18-page document that adheres to the guidelines of the Official Languages Act 2003 . The purpose of the Scheme is to provide services through the mediums of Irish and/or English. According to the Department of the Taoiseach, it is meant to "develop a sustainable economy and a successful society, to pursue Ireland's interests abroad, to implement the Government's Programme and to build
13680-602: Was establishing itself as the primary language. Irish speakers had first arrived in Australia in the late 18th century as convicts and soldiers, and many Irish-speaking settlers followed, particularly in the 1860s. New Zealand also received some of this influx. Argentina was the only non-English-speaking country to receive large numbers of Irish emigrants, and there were few Irish speakers among them. Walrus O. rosmarus rosmarus O. rosmarus divergens O. rosmarus laptevi (debated) The walrus ( Odobenus rosmarus )
13800-719: Was historically anglicized as ' Dariry' . Valentia was the eastern terminus of the first commercially viable transatlantic telegraph cable . The first attempt in 1857 to land a cable from Ballycarbery Strand on the mainland just east of Valentia Island ended in disappointment. After subsequent failures of cables landed at Knightstown in 1858 and Foilhommerum Bay in 1865, the vast endeavor finally resulted in commercially viable transatlantic telegraph communications from Foilhommerum Bay to Heart's Content , Newfoundland in 1866. Transatlantic telegraph cables operated from Valentia Island for one hundred years, ending with Western Union International terminating its cable operations in 1966. Before
13920-406: Was not true of all extinct walruses, the most prominent feature of the living species is its long tusks. These are elongated canines , which are present in both male and female walruses and can reach a length of 1 m (3 ft 3 in) and weigh up to 5.4 kg (12 lb). Tusks are slightly longer and thicker among males, which use them for fighting, dominance and display; the strongest males with
14040-474: Was passed 14 July 2003 with the main purpose of improving the number and quality of public services delivered in Irish by the government and other public bodies. Compliance with the Act is monitored by the An Coimisinéir Teanga (Irish Language Commissioner) which was established in 2004 and any complaints or concerns pertaining to the Act are brought to them. There are 35 sections included in
14160-693: Was spoken throughout Ireland, Isle of Man and parts of Scotland . It is the language of a large corpus of literature, including the Ulster Cycle . From the 12th century, Middle Irish began to evolve into modern Irish in Ireland, into Scottish Gaelic in Scotland, and into the Manx language in the Isle of Man . Early Modern Irish , dating from the 13th century, was the basis of the literary language of both Ireland and Gaelic-speaking Scotland. Modern Irish, sometimes called Late Modern Irish, as attested in
14280-495: Was unable to accomplish some everyday tasks, as portrayed in his documentary No Béarla . There is, however, a growing body of Irish speakers in urban areas, particularly in Dublin. Many have been educated in schools in which Irish is the language of instruction. Such schools are known as Gaelscoileanna at primary level. These Irish-medium schools report some better outcomes for students than English-medium schools. In 2009,
14400-519: Was wiped out after Norse settlement around 1213–1330 AD. An isolated population is restricted, year-round, to the central and western regions of the Laptev Sea , from the eastern Kara Sea to the westernmost regions of the East Siberian Sea . The current population of these Laptev walruses has been estimated at between 5-10,000. Even though walruses can dive to depths beyond 500 meters, they spend most of their time in shallow waters (and
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