■282 



THE FIN-FOOTED ANIMALS. 



factured into excellent coverings for large trunks, 

 and made into harness, and would be turned to 

 much greater account if the largest skins were not 

 also the poorest, owing to their many scars. The 

 Elephant Seals will not inhabit the earth long. 



They can not even, like the Whales, retreat into the 

 inaccessible parts of the ocean before their cruel 

 enemy: they must endure persecution until the last 

 of them shall have succumbed to the destructiveness 

 of the insatiable beast of prey called Man. 



'JTbe Malrus ffamtl^ 



SECOND FAMILY: Trichechid.e. 



The second family of the Fin- Footed animals con- 

 sists only of one species {Trichechus), the Walrus or 

 Morse, called Seahorse by English and Rosmar by 

 Norwegian sealers, and Morsk by the Laplanders, 

 and probably contains the most gigantic members 

 of the Seal family. 



Physical Struc- When this huge animal reaches com- 

 ture of the plete maturity it attains a length of 

 Walrus. about fourteen feet, in a few rare 

 cases even fifteen or sixteen feet, and a girth of 

 from nine to ten and sometimes even twelve feet. 

 Its weight is estimated to reach 2,000 pounds. As 

 with the Seals, the elongated body is thickest in the 

 middle, but it does not narrow backward to the 

 same extent as that of the other Seals. From this 

 huge body the limbs project downward and outward 

 ending in large, ragged flaps, both elbow and knee 

 joints being distinguishable. The feet are furnished 

 with five toes, which have short, blunt claws placed 

 above the extremity of each toe. The tail appears 

 like an insignificant flap of skin. But it is not the 

 body which characterizes the Walrus, it is the head, 

 which is proportionately small, round and thickened 

 to deformity by two swollen, ball-like tooth sockets 

 in the upper jaw. The muzzle is very short, broad 

 and blunt, the upper lip is fleshy and arched on 

 the sides, while the lower lip is puffy. On both 

 sides of the muzzle stand rows of round, flattened, 

 horny whisker hairs, longer behind than in front; the 

 stoutest hairs may be as thick as a raven's quill, and 

 four inches long; their number may be several hun- 

 dred. The nostrils are crescent-shaped, the very 

 deep set eyes are small, brilliant and protected by 

 projecting lids. The ears lack any trace of external 

 conch and lie far back on the head. 



The teeth constitute the most remarkable feature. 

 In the front part of the muzzle two powerful tusks, 

 protruding far out of the mouth, crowd out the six 

 incisors and two canines which exist in the very 

 young animals. These tusks attain a length of 

 twenty-four and in very rare instances as much as 

 thirty-two inches, and weigh on an average from 

 five to six pounds each, or even seven pounds; but 

 there are said to have been specimens weighing 

 fourteen and sixteen pounds. The skin is nearly 

 destitute of hair and very thick, and is not merely 

 wrinkled but positively gnarled. The prevailing 

 color of old and young is a more or less vivid tan- 

 brown or skin-brown. Generally, the tusks of the 

 female are thinner, but frequently longer, and taper 

 more than those of the male, which are usually blunt. 



Early Accounts For centuries the Walrus has been 



of the Wat- known by pictures and descriptions, 



rus. but not in its true shape or habits. 



Albertus Magnus in the thirteenth century gave a 



description of the animal plentifully seasoned with 



fables and tales, and Olaus Magnus had scarcely' 

 anything to add to it three hundred years later. A 

 bishop of Drontheim had a Walrus head salted and 

 sent it to Rome, to Pope Leo X., in 1520. This head 

 was modeled in Strasburg and old Gessner gives 

 a fairly accurate description from it. Martens of 

 Hamburg lastly, who saw the Walrus personally at 

 the end of the seventeenth century in the Arctic 

 Ocean, gives a good and detailed account, and from 

 that time the number of descriptions increases, and 

 so does our knowledge of the animal through the 

 accurate accounts of its habits and the modes of 

 hunting it. 



The Walruses Like so many other animals the Wal- 



Diminishing in rus also has been by degrees gradu- 

 Numbers. ally displaced in regions nearer and 

 nearer to the North Pole by the attacks of Man and 

 now holds its own only, in those pl_aces where there 

 are difficulties in the way of sealers,' which may be 

 overcome only in certain years. We may say, in a 

 general way, that the Walrus occurs in all waters 

 surrounding the North Pole to the present day, but 

 is not found everywhere. It is met all the year 

 round in the northern parts of eastern and western 

 Greenland, in Baffin's Bay and all connecting straits, 

 sounds and gulfs, to Behring Straits, which connect 

 its eastern and western range. It also is found off 

 Nova Zembla and Spitzbergen and along the whole 

 northern cost of Siberia. 



A few decades ago Walruses were met with within 

 the described area, at least occasionally, in very con- 

 siderable numbers, sometimes in herds of many thou- 

 sands, and their combined weight, according. to the 

 assurances of sealers and hunters, pressed large floes 

 of ice, which ordinarily rose high over the surface of 

 the water, down to its level. At present only a few 

 hundreds are seen congregated in a herd and this 

 only under favorable circumstances. 



The first impression a Walrus produces on Man is 

 not a favorable one. The oldest seafarers found it 

 as repulsive and ugly looking as do the sailors and 

 travelers of to-day. German Arctic explorers say 

 that if there is an animal which is entitled to be 

 termed a monster, it is the Walrus, equally because 

 of its appearance as on account of its demoniacal 

 voice and unprepossessing character. The life of 

 the Morses seems to be a very monotonous one, 

 partly, perhaps, for the reason that they procure 

 their food with less pains and in less time than 

 other Seals. In brief, we may say the following of 

 their life and doings in the course of days and years: 

 Haunts and Hub- According to the conformation of 

 its of the the coast, the animals congregate in 

 Walrus. more or less numerous troops. The 

 adults are said to live in separate herds, the males 

 keeping together, and the feniales keeping apart 



