THE CAPE SEA LION 



of Nature. The ancestors of seals, en- 

 compassed by enemies against which they could 

 not successfully contend, and finding a plentiful 

 supply of food in the water, gradually became 

 aquatic in their habits ; and in the course of ages 

 the body assumed a more rounded shape ; the under 

 fur grew closer and finer, and the feet developed 

 a flipper-like form perfectly adapted for propelling 

 the animal swiftly through the water. 



The Cape Sea Lion or Hair Seal belongs to a 

 different family, and is quite distinct from the true 

 seals of the Arctic and Antarctic regions. The 

 chief difference is that the Sea Lions are able to 

 use their hind limbs to aid them in climbing rocks 

 and waddling along on land by bringing them 

 forward under the body ; whereas the hind limbs 

 of the true seals stick out straight behind, and 

 cannot be brought forward, except in the case of a 

 few species which can bring them forward to a 

 limited degree. Another difference is the Sea 

 Lion has external ears, whereas true seals do not 

 possess them. 



The Cape Sea Lion, like all the seal tribe, is just 

 an ordinary flesh-eating or carnivorous, warm- 

 blooded, air-breathing animal which lives in the 

 sea, and is not, as popularly supposed, a kind of 

 fish. They are in reality four-footed animals 

 which have become adapted to the environment 

 in which they live. 



Sea Lions inhabit the coasts of South Africa 

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