SEAL 



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SEAL 



Union ; the escutcheon is borne unsupported on 

 the breast of the eagle, denoting that the coun- 

 try should rely solely upon its own strength and 

 virtues. The pyramid on the reverse side signi- 

 fies duration and solidity. The eye above it 



and the motto above refer to the many in- 

 terpositions of Providence in favor of the 

 American people. The date (1776)" in Roman 

 numerals and the lower motto signify the be- 

 ginning of a new era at that time. F.ST.A. 



EAL, a strangely-formed, warm- 

 blooded, air-breathing animal which has its 

 various body structures so modified that it is 

 able to live in the water as well as on the land. 

 However, except at the mating season, seals 

 spend most of their time in the sea. 



What a Seal Looks Like. If seen on land, a 

 seal is incredibly awkward, but in the water it 

 is beautiful and graceful. It has a tapering 

 body, with thick, woolly fur and long, shining 

 hair, and is so sleek and oily that it glides easily 

 through the water, finlike feet serving as pad- 

 dles and as rudder. Particularly graceful are 

 the quick, darting movements with which it 

 seizes upon its prey of small fish. A seal has a 

 tail, but it is so short as to be practically use- 

 less, while the limbs also are short, the greater 

 part of their length being hidden beneath the 

 skin. The head is small and round, the neck 

 short, the mouth large and provided with 

 numerous "feelers," like those of the cat. 



Where Seals Live. The Caspian Sea and 

 Lake Baikal have two species of seals, but with 

 these exceptions all members of the family live 

 in the ocean. For the most part they do not 

 like the warm climates, though a few species do 

 live in the tropic and temperate zone seas. But 

 toward the far north and the far south the 

 sea teems with them. They tumble about in 

 the water most of the year, but at breeding 

 time are to be seen in vast numbers on the 

 shore rocks and the icebergs. It is not only 

 their thick coat of fur, or hair, which protects 

 them from the extreme cold, but the layer of 

 fat, or blubber, which lies just under the skin. 

 Intended thus solely for their protection, this 

 blubber has contributed to their destruction, 

 for it is one of the things which men much 

 desire as an article of commerce, and for it seals 

 have been killed by thousands. 



Intelligence of Seals. Seals of one species or 

 another have long been familiar in zoological 

 gardens, where children have delighted to watch 

 their awkward movements as they draw them- 

 selves up on the rocks, and to listen to their 

 hoarse barking; but in recent years men have 

 found another way to make these animals con- 

 tribute to their amusement, and trained seals 

 are now an important part of almost every cir- 

 cus. Just because they are so lumbering and 

 awkward and seem so much farther down in 

 the scale of life than any of the land animals, 

 the tricks which they perform seem almost in- 

 credible. Some students claim that their teach- 

 ableness is a sign of their superior intelligence, 

 while others declare that it is but the outgrowth 

 of instinct and of a desire for the fish which 

 the keeper gives them at intervals. 



Certain it is that seals in their native haunts 

 seem far from intelligent. The homing in- 

 stinct they possess to perfection, coming back 

 each year to the same breeding spot as un- 

 swervingly as a bird returns to its last year's 

 nesting tree ; but that suggests a lack of intelli- 

 gence rather than the contrary, for it is on these 

 well-known breeding spots that they are most 

 likely to meet with destruction at the hands of 

 men. 



The life habits of seals are very interesting. 

 As they have been studied most closely in con- 

 nection with the jur seal, they will be discussed 

 in the section of this article devoted to that 

 species. 



Kinds of . Seals. A thoroughly satisfactory 

 classification of seals has never been made, but 

 a simple, serviceable division separates them 

 into two groups; these are the eared seals, 

 which have external ears and for the most part 

 soft fur under their long hair, and the true 

 , which have no external ears and no fur. 



