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Freya, the Sunbathing Walrus Sinker of Boats, Is Getting Too Famous for Her Own Sake

It’s perfect boating season right now, and no one loves boats more than Freya, the bathing walrus and international celebrity slash goddess who, somehow ironically, is also a symbol of how bad climate change has gotten.
Freya the walrus is famous for sinking several small boats and inflatables while sunbathing 8 photos
Photo: Twitter / @steinkobbe
Freya the walrus is famous for sinking several small boats and inflatables while sunbathingFreya the walrus is famous for sinking several small boats and inflatables while sunbathingFreya the walrus is famous for sinking several small boats and inflatables while sunbathingFreya the walrus is famous for sinking several small boats and inflatables while sunbathingFreya the walrus is famous for sinking several small boats and inflatables while sunbathingFreya the walrus is famous for sinking several small boats and inflatables while sunbathingFreya the walrus is famous for sinking several small boats and inflatables while sunbathing
Freya, the walrus, not the mythological Norse goddess of love, fertility, battle, and death, first made international headlines last year, when she left the Arctic circle and ventured into unknown territory.

In due time, she reached Denmark, went to Germany, Scotland and the Netherlands, leaving behind a trail of lounging and destruction. Because Freya isn’t famous only because she’s an adventurer like no other: she’s famous because she sinks small boats by sunbathing on them (and occasionally getting into fights with swans or refusing to be bothered by humans).

As of a couple of months now, Freya is in Norway where, you guessed it, she keeps sinking boats by trying to lay on them for her sunny naps. Freya weighs 1,500 pounds (680 kg) and she’s clearly not aware of it, given that she often climbs on watercraft made for a much smaller payload. The bad news is that this much fame is ending up stressing her out: Rune Aae, researcher and doctoral fellow in science education at the University of South-eastern Norway, tells Science Norway that she needs a time-out from all the attention.

Put it simply, because she’s famous and an unusual sight, Freya is gathering crowds like a Hollywood A-lister. Unlike those, she’s not accustomed to crowds, so she’s experiencing stress. “She doesn’t get any peace,” Aae explains. “They are too close, I think. And it is not just one boat, but a dozen boats.”

Researchers built a floating dock for Freya in Oslo but, so far, she’s stayed true to her preference for small boats and inflatables, much to their owners’ chagrin. The plan is that, once the walrus is accustomed to her own dock, researchers will move her back to the Arctic circle where she came from. All jokes aside, while Twitter is praising Freya for reclaiming the waters of Oslo while having the best hot girl summer ever, her presence is both a danger and a warning sign.







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About the author: Elena Gorgan
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Elena has been writing for a living since 2006 and, as a journalist, she has put her double major in English and Spanish to good use. She covers automotive and mobility topics like cars and bicycles, and she always knows the shows worth watching on Netflix and friends.
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