WHALES, SEALS AND WALRUSES 



which has gone into the sea in past ages, yet cannot leave 

 it again, even for brief visits to the shore. 



Many authorities beheve that the sirens and mermaids 

 of legends and fables were what we now call manatis, 

 walruses and seals, to which the imagination of the 

 ancients gave irresistible beauty and charm, as half- 

 women, half-fish. But the manati — and for that matter 

 the walrus and the seal — are among the ugliest of mam- 

 mals, and it is difficult to imagine how it could be mis- 

 taken for any lady of exquisite beauty, as the typical 

 mermaid or siren was reputed to be, even if such a 

 charming creature had the tail of a fish. 



The dugong, or duyong, is another of the "sea-cows". 

 It is a marine animal and feeds chiefly on seaweeds. 

 Some specimens attain a length of nine feet. Found along 

 the shores of Australia, of the Indian Ocean, and around 

 the Red Sea, it differs from the manati in having a 

 crescent-shaped tail, and a pair of tusks. Dugongs are 

 fond of basking on the surface of the water, or browsing 

 on submarine seaweed pastures, for which their thick 

 flexible lips and truncated snout fit them. 



In the earlier Australian dugong-fisheries, natives were 

 able to harpoon the animals, but the dugongs, learning 

 by bitter experience, became wary and would not let 

 themselves be approached. So the harpoon method of 

 slaughter was abandoned in favour of nets. These are 

 spread at night, and in their meshes dugongs are caught 

 in considerable numbers. 



The female dugong is proverbial among the Malays for 

 her maternal solicitude for her offspring, of which but 

 one is produced at a birth. Dugongs have been nearly 

 exterminated, owing to the demand for the fine oil, 

 which is used for medicinal and other purposes, yielded 

 by the Australian species. 



There are such remarkable differences in the struc- 

 tures, habits and physical appearances of whales that it 

 is sometimes difficult to realize that they are all members 



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