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THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 



their puppy-like snaps, for their jaws 

 were armed with very sharp little 

 teeth.i 



I have read somewhere that a child 

 with a popgun can drive a whole herd 

 of sea lions into the sea. This is usu- 

 allv so but not alwavs, for they refuse 



' Eaeh cow bears a single pup each year, the 

 period of gestation being nearly a year. The cow 

 nurses the young nearly to the time the next pup 

 is born. I have been told that when a cow loses 

 her pup for any reason she allows her pup of the 

 year before to keep on nursing. As evidence con 

 firming this I once shot a fat California sea lion 

 pup that was about two months over a year old. 

 and found its stomach filled to its capacity with 

 milk. I have no opinion or evidence as to how 

 long this might continue. 



Cows in their first breeding year have their 

 pups earlier than the older ones, often even Vjefore 

 the harems are formed. I saw three of these 

 early pups drowned on the Ano Xuevo rookery, 

 having been washed from the rocks or clumsily 

 knocked oft by their mothers. That the mothers , 

 were inexperienced was shown by tlieir futile ' 

 attempts to save them. I have frequently seen 

 old cows seize their pups by the nape of the neck 

 and dive into the water with them, easily support- ii 



ing them, and at last bringing them safely 

 again. 



out 



L. 



The young sea lions spend much of their time sleeping con- 

 tentedly on the hard rocks. These pups are probably four or five 

 weeks old 



But apparently the cows sometimes have not 

 the skill, or hesitate to do this, for I watched five 

 pups on the main island, that supposedly had been 

 washed off the rookery. Their mothers came every 

 night and at intervals through the day and nursed 

 them. Two of them I saw swim unaided back to 

 the rookery, a couple of hundred yards distant, 

 and against a strong wind and a rather rough sea. 

 They could not have been more than three weeks 

 old, although under other conditions I never saw 

 pups voluntarily enter the sea until they were six 

 weeks or more old. 



The Steller's sea lion pup weighs hietween forty- 

 five and fifty pounds. Its use of the fore and 

 hind flippers in climbing about the rocks is well 

 shown here 



to be driven for a short period after 

 the pups are born. At this time they 

 may be dangerous. Al- 

 though I have never heard 

 of anyone being harmed by 

 a sea lion, boatmen tell 

 many stories of having had 

 to run from a wounded 

 bull or an angry cow. I 

 have had cows make savage 

 luuges at me open-mouthed 

 when I approached too 

 near to a newly born pup. 

 and after receiving such 

 warning I had little in- 

 clination to get closer to 

 those big white teeth and 

 bristling whiskers. 



Those of us who have 

 children as an excuse for 

 going to the circus, or who 

 are honest enough to ad- 

 mit that we go for our own amusement, 

 remember seeing the trained sea lions 

 catch balls that are thrown to them. 

 This seems to be a .natural instinct. 

 Once, when I wished to get a cow out of 

 my way that I might examine a certain 

 pup, I threw a stone at her, and to my 

 surprise she caught it in her mouth. We 



