TTie Sea Lions of California 



Iv i: |) \V 1 N (' II A I' I N S T A !>' K S 



Assistiiiit Professor of Zoolony, Stanford I'tiivcrKity 



LI'TI.I-; ;i> Ihcv look llkr li«'Il>. \\\r 

 -ca lions of ilic I'acil'u' coast have 

 f the assertion ttf sufli rcscnililancc 

 tirmlv li.xctl n]>on tlicin liy tlirir iianic. 

 Xor is tlu'ir rcscniMaiur l<» wolves any 

 more apparent.alllioni.'^h llie early Span- 

 isli residents in California evidently so 

 iniajriiied. for they ealleil them sea 

 wolves. Tliev are sometimes called hair 

 seals to distinjiuish them from their 

 iirst cousins the fur seals, hut the nami' 

 "seal" applied to either the fur seal or 

 the sea lion is rather unfortunate. Uw 

 thev are very ditVerent from the true 

 seals. Perhaps of all the nanu>s that 

 have heen applii'd to tluin that of ''sea 

 hears" is most appropriate. This name 

 indicates their true relationshi|i, for 

 they are thoufrht to he more closely re- 

 lated to the bears than to any other 

 strictly land animal. They are rather 

 hearlike in their movements. As the 

 old males go on their swin_triu<r nm1)le 

 across the rocks, their manes hristlinjx. 

 their head.* ?wayin,si from >ide to side. 

 thev have a strikinu" resemhlaiice to 

 hears.i 



' The group to wlii< h these animals lielong — the 

 Pinnipedia — infludes the sea lions, fur seiils. wal 

 ruses, sea elephants, and true seals. This groui> 

 has been divided into three families, the first of 

 which contains the true seals and sea elephants, 

 and the second, the fur seals and sea lions, the 

 walruses forming the third. The fur seals and 

 the sea lions are closely related to each other, 

 and form a family known as the eared seals. 

 They are separated from each other chiefly on ac- 

 count of the character of tlie hody covering, tlie 

 fur seal having an under f\ir that the sea lion 

 laclcR. 



The eared seals have small external ears. Their 

 hind flippers instead of pointing straiglit back are 

 bent forward at the ankle joint like the hind feet 

 of a V»ear. and have a long web extending beyonil 

 the claws. There are claws on the hind feet only. 

 In the fore feet the web extends far beyond the 

 bones of the toes. The fliiipers are large enough 

 to raise the body completely from the ground, and 

 enable the animal to climb steep rocky din's. They 

 can attain considerable speed over the ground in a 

 sort of an awkward trot. Thr- neck is long and the 

 head may be held erect at an angle with tlie body. 



(»n the ('alifoi-nia coast are two 

 species of sea lions, Steller's sea lion 

 ( Kiiniflojiiiix jiilxilii) and the Califor- 

 nia sea lion ( Zulu jili Its i-dllfoniinniis) . 

 Stcllers sea lion is much the larp-r. 

 the males reachinji a length •>f fourteen 

 feet and the wei>rht of a ton. while the 

 males of the California sea lion do not 



exceed eii;ht or nine feet ill lellLrtll. 

 '{'he females always are very much 

 smaller. 



Steller's sea lion is found from 

 Heriuir Sti-ait .-outhward to the Santa 

 Barbara I -land-. The ranj^e of the 

 California -ea litm has not been well 

 madi' out. It is fouiul alonf^ the entire 

 California coast and indefinitely north- 

 ward, its southern ran^re is at least to 

 Cape San i>ucas and the (iiilf of Cali- 

 fornia. Althoufih these two forms niin- 

 ,<,de ahuisr the Pacific coast for several 

 hundreds f)f miles, their l)reedin<i 

 ranires scarcely overlap, for the south- 

 ernmost rookery of Steller's sea lion is 

 said to l)e on Santa Posa Island, while 

 the northernmost rookery of the Cali- 

 fornia sea lion is said to be on San 



The true seals, of whicli the common leopard 

 seal, or harbor seal, found on both our Atlantic 

 and Pacific coasts, is an example, are more 

 aquatic than the eared seals, the flippers being 

 much better adai)ted to life in the water than on 

 land. The flipi)ers are very short, and both the 

 fore and hind ones are armed with claws, beyond 

 which the web scarcely extends. The hind flippers 

 cannot be bent forward at the ankle joint. The 

 true seals are very helpless on land. They cannot 

 raise tliemselves from the ground, but progress by 

 a series of short hitches. The neck is short and 

 there are no external ears. They do not venture 

 very far from the water's edge. 



The old zoologists naturally believed that the 

 seals and sea lions bridged the gap in the rela- 

 tionship between the land mammals and the i)urely 

 aquatic, whalelike mammals. It is now apparent 

 that the whales are descended from a group en- 

 tirely different from those tliat gave rise to the 

 seals, so while the seals and their relatives are 

 not a link between the land and marine mammals 

 they are, nevertheless, intermediate in the use of 

 their limbs, for these are adapted for use both on 

 land and in water. 



' Illustrations from photogrnph" by the .Autlior and Mr .lulin lwi«|. 



