EARED SEALS 



(Family Otariida) 



These large seals are found in North America only on the 

 Pacific Coast, the best known being the fur seal of Bering Sea, 

 the hair seal and sea lion. 



Fur Seal 



Otoes alascanus (Jordan & Clark) 

 Called also Sea Bear. 



Length. 6 feet. (Female 3 feet 10 inches.) 



Description. Body covered with a very fine soft underfur and a 

 coarser, longer growth of hair overlying it; colour chestnut- 

 brown to black, in old individuals strongly mixed with gray, 

 especially above. Females very much smaller and generally 

 lighter than the males. (Illustration facing p. 212.) 



Range'. Pribilof Islands, Bering Sea in the breeding season, at 

 other times all along the coast of California. 



Of all our native American animals none have been brought 

 so prominently to the attention of the general public as the fur 

 seal of Alaska. Ever since the discovery of their breeding grounds 

 in the North Pacific and the realization of the value of their skins 

 in the markets of the world, they have been the cause of legis- 

 lation and disputes in which Russia, the United States and Great 

 Britain have been involved. 



The many government investigations, with their voluminous 

 reports, have given us a more exhaustive account of the life and 

 habits of the fur seal than we possess of any of our other ani- 

 mals; and, indeed, a beast possessing so many peculiarities is 

 well worthy of the attention, entirely apart from the commercial 

 side of the question. 



Originally all the fur seals of the North Pacific were regarded 

 as representing but one species, but it now appears that there 

 are three distinct herds which keep quite separate from one an- 

 other and which form three recognizable races or species, differ- 

 ing both in colour and structure. The most numerous and at the 



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