Eared Seals or Sea Lions. 221 



£ARED SEALS (Otaxiidae) 



Eared Seals are active, aggressive and polygamous. 

 They are not so highly specialized as the True Seals, hav- 

 ing well-marked necks, well-defined external ears and 

 hind flippers that can be turned forward under the trunk. 

 Their fore feet are nearly as long as the hind ones, and 

 the soles of both fore and hind feet are entirely devoid of 

 hair. The toes of the fore feet, decrease in length from 

 the first to the fifth, and have merely rudimentary claws ; 

 on the hind feet the three middle toes have better devel- 

 oped claws, but the first and last are quite clawless. These 

 animals can progress fairly well on the land by arching 

 the back, and carrying the body forward with a sort of 

 jerk, or bear-like lope. The males of the family are all 

 very much larger than the females of their species. 



At one time all Eared Seals were grouped under one 

 generic title ; but now the thirteen species considered in 

 this work are assigned to five diflEerent genera, and di- 

 vided into two sub-families ; the Eared Hair Seals, or Sea 

 Lions, being grouped together in the sub-family, Trico- 

 phocinae; and the Bared Pur Seals, or Sea Bears, being 

 grouped together in the sub-family Ulophocinae. The 

 Sea Lions are always considerably larger, and much more 

 powerful, than the Sea Bears found in the same locality. 

 "While these animals frequent the same shores, and often 

 breed on the same islands, they never live together; as 

 the Sea Lions, who are very shy and wary, and much 

 ■slower and clumsier in their movements, seldom travel 

 as far inland as the Sea Bears; and when they do meet 

 by chance on the narrow belts of land to which the Sea 

 Lions resort for their stations, the Sea Bears always yield 

 their places without a struggle to their formidable op- 

 ponents. 



The Eared Seals spend a large portion of their time on 

 the land, assembling in great numbers at regular seasons, 

 at certain breeding grounds. The males are the first to 

 arrive at these rookeries and having selected individual 

 stations, about ten feet square in size, they keep up a con- 

 tinual struggle to maintain their positions, and to preserve 



