AKT. 15 ANATOMY OF THE EARED AND EARLESS SEALS HOWELL 3 



HABITS 



For a proper understanding of the pages that follow it will be 

 necessary briefly to discuss the habits of the eared and earless seals, 

 and to mention certain acts which their form allows them to perform 

 or prevents them from doing. 



ZaJofJhus calif ornianus^ as representing the sea lions or eared seals. 

 is fundamentally a long, rather slender animal, save when very fat 

 or in the case of mature bulls, which spend considerable time on land 

 but seldom venture farther than a few yards away from the sea. 

 The fore and hind limbs are both highly modified into paddles and 

 considering the highly specialized condition in this respect, terrestrial 

 locomotion is accomplished with more agility than one would imagine 



Fig. 1. — Typical TiiRP.ESTRiAL postures of an eaeed seal (sea lion or otariid^ 



ZALOPHTJS) AXD earless seal (true seal or PROCIDj PHOCA, ABOVE) 



to be possible, and the animal travels on land much as would a 

 fissiped carnivore with legs of equal length, galloping about with 

 considerable speed. The neck is extraordinarily mobile, enabling a 

 trained sea lion to perform surprising feats of balancing with its 

 nose, probably to a more perfect degree than could any terrestrial 

 mammal. Marked flexibility of the lumbar region also exists, and 

 otariids — especially fur seals — can contort this part of the back in a 

 striking manner. The forelimb is used as the primary and almost 

 exclusive means of aquatic locomotion, and as the chief support for 

 the body when on land. In the latter situation the manus is bent 

 at the wrist and extended laterad. The pes is also bent at a right 

 angle to the shank, but as the shin is bound down to the pelvis, so as 



