fi, 



luADALUPE Island is a wave-swept mountain top 

 which the ocean seems eager to demohsh. Rising out of the black 

 depths of water which on all sides is two miles or more deep, her 

 highest peak juts some 4,500 feet above the surface. If all Guada- 

 lupe were above mean sea level of the Pacific, it would make a 

 mountain rising 16,500 feet skyward. 



An enormous but long quiescent volcano, the island is one of 

 the most rugged and unapproachable of all Mexico's offshore pos- 

 sessions. It lies about 140 miles off the coast of Lower California; 

 is populated by a few guards and fishermen and provides haven for 

 many forms of wild life. 



Most famous for its enormous sea elephants, Guadalupe is not 

 their sole habitat, but here they are most numerous. Grotesque, 

 rugged animals they are, and along the wild, rocky, wave-battered 

 beaches they seem to have found an appropriate home. 



Giant combers from the open sea crash on the exposed sides of 

 Guadalupe with the noise of a thousand thunders, making the land- 

 ing of small boats hazardous if not well-nigh impossible. To get 

 safely ashore with sufficient men and equipment to capture prized 

 specimens of these giant mammals and transport them back to zoos 

 for exhibition purposes is a major enterprise. 



One good sized male sea elephant will weigh around 6,000 

 pounds. With head and neck erect, and standing up on his fore- 

 flippers, one of the animals will tower above a tall man. For all 

 their bulk and ferocious mien, they are a clumsy lot. Their mode 

 of locomotion is more like that of an inch-worm than a common 

 Pacific Coast harbor seal or California sea lion. 



Sea elephants, however, can slither down a sloping beach faster 

 than a man can walk. One doesn't get in their way. A blow from 

 a fhpper or a mere nudge of a mammoth's nose would send a man 

 flying. They have great crushing power and tusks with which they 

 rend and tear each other. 



The sea elephant acquires his name from two characteristics 

 which distinguish him from fellow aquatic mammals and which 

 also give him some resemblance to the elephant family. 



Mirtinga angustirostris has an elongated snout which appears 



to be a diminutive of the elephant's trunk. He also has a thick, 



127 crinkly skin with scant hair like an elephant. Naturalists compare 



