32 



VALUE OF MAMMALS TO MAN 



valued ambergris is a product of the whale, and even its 

 great bones are saved ; indeed, there is a fishery in Nor- 

 way, or in some of the adjacent islands, where the entire 

 whale is brought in and every part of it utiHzed and con- 

 verted into a valuable product. 



The seal family is exceedingly valuable, and this coun- 

 try has been on the verge of serious trouble many times 

 on account of the depredations of illegal sealers on Ameri- 

 can fur-seal preserves. Exact and careful laws are enacted 

 for the protection of the fishery; but despite this, the ani- 

 mals are butchered by fishermen who follow them to sea 

 and shoot them. The government protects the catch 



ashore and is doing what 

 it can to preserve the 

 animals ; but the end of 

 the century will doubt- 

 less see the last of the 

 seals, which afford the 

 finest sealskins for per- 

 3i^=i^__ ^" ' sonal wear. The return 



from this source is very 

 Fig. 22. — The Harbor Seal, 



large and if the entire 



proceeds per annum of the fur trade could be estimated, 



it would approximate a vast sum, showing that fur has an 



important bearing as a commercial factor. 



Even the sea lion of the Pacific coast has a value as an 

 exhibit in zoological gardens and shows of various kinds, 

 and at Santa Barbara a number of men skilled in throwing 

 the riata capture them on the off-shore islands for market. 



In the South Pacific, on Kerguelen, Heard, and other 

 islands, a war of extermination is being carried on against 



