NATIONAL ZOOLOGICAL PARK HOLLISTER 317 



found on both shores of the Atlantic, ranging well down the coast of 

 the United States. Near relatives are found in the northern Pacific 

 Ocean, in the Caspian Sea, and in Lake Baikal, Siberia. The har- 

 bor seal is an interesting creature, spotted in coat, with a little 

 round head, and an inquisitive face. 



The sea lion pool, just west of the bear dens, is a popular show 

 place with the public. In it are kept the California sea lions 

 (Zalophvs calif ornianus) . This species, so familiar to visitors to the 

 Pacific coast, is the animal usually seen in shows of trained sea 

 lions. It is a noisy animal, and the bark of the male can be heard 

 for a considerable distance. 



Feeding time at the sea lion pool is an exciting occasion. The 

 animals are fed fish, some of considerable size, which are handed 

 or thrown to them by the keeper from the high rocky den at the end 

 of the pool. It is at this time that visitors can best see for themselves 

 what expert and exceedingly rapid swimmers these animals are. A 

 fish thrown anywhere within reasonable distance of one of the sea 

 lions rarely strikes the water, so expert are the animals in catching 

 them. 



THE MARSUPIALS, OR POUCHED MAMMALS 



These interesting creatures, although in former periods of time 

 having a wide distribution over the earth, are now confined to 

 Australia and America. They are separated from all the other 

 living mammals by many structural characters. The most interest- 

 ing point from a popular view is the fact that the young are born 

 at a much earlier stage of development than in other mammals, and 

 spend a long period of growth in the marsupium, or abdominal 

 pouch of the mother, where they are firmly attached to the teats. 

 The newly born young of the larger kangaroos are no larger than a 

 baby mouse, but by the time they first look out of the opening 

 of the pouch, some weeks later, they are grown to a point compar- 

 able to the ordinary mammals at birth. 



The marsupials in America are all opossums or ratlike forms, 

 but in Australia and Tasmania there are marsupials to represent 

 many of the variations found in the mammals of the world — wolf, 

 bear, squirrel, flying squirrel, cat, marmot, rat, rabbit, lemur, ant- 

 eater, and mole are all imitated in superficial points of structure 

 and mode of life. 



Marsupials most often seen in collections of living animals are 

 the various species of kangaroos, wallaby, and wallaroo; the phal- 

 angers, Tasmanian devil, wombat, and opossums. 



The larger species, the great gray kangaroo (Macropw gigan- 

 teus), the red kangaroo (M. rvfus), and the wallaroo (M. robustus) 

 naturally attract the most attention. They are showy, breed well in 



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