CHAPTER IV 

 THE ORDER OF SEALS AND SEA-LIONS 



PINNIPEDIA 



Some students may feel that it is useless for 

 land dwellers to try to become acquainted, at 

 long range, with sea animals. Toward many 

 sea animals, this feeling is justified; but it 

 should not be entertained toward the bold and 

 hardy fin-footed children of the surf. The seals 

 and sea-lions of our shores are well worth know- 

 ing. 



From the warm and luxurious shore of south- 

 ern California to Oregon's storm-beaten TiUa^ 

 mook Rock, and on up to the inhospitable, rock- 

 boimd edge of western Alaska, you wiU find at 

 intervals, where Nature has done some of her 

 grandest work in shore-building, colonies of bold 

 and hardy sea-lions. On the Pribilof Islands 

 lives the most valuable of all the fur-bearing 

 animals of the world, the fur-" seal," which has 

 contributed millions of dollars to our national 

 treasury, and more than repaid the whole price 

 of Alaska. 



On the low shores and adjacent ice floes of the 

 North Atlantic live the seal herds that annually 

 yield an immense store of valuable oil, and fur- 

 nish employment for thousands of Newfoundland 

 sailors and sealers. 



The reader may rest assured that even though 

 his home be in the centre of the Great Plains, the 

 North American seals and sea-lions are well 

 worth knowing; for, sooner or later, travel surely 

 will bring him into visual contact with many of 

 them, either in museums, zoological gardens, or 

 alive in their haunts. Let us, then, lay the 

 foundation for a profitable acquaintance with 

 them. 



By some writers, these animals are classed 

 with the Ferae, because they eat flesh; but to 

 associate in the same Order such widely different 



creatures as sea-lions and cats seems incongru- 

 ous, if not incorrect. 



The Order Pinnipedia ' contains three groups 

 of sea-faring animals, distributed widely through 

 the ocean waters of the world, and in some in- 

 stances, in fresh water, also. They are the Sea- 

 Lions, Seals and Walruses. 



A Sea-Lion has a long, supple neck, and long, 

 triangular front flippers that have neither hair 

 nor claws, but are simply living paddles. Their 

 hind hmbs are web-toed flippers. They have 

 very small, sharp-pointed ears, carry their heads 

 high, and all are lively, active animals, both in 

 swimming and in climbing rocks. The males 

 of some species grow to enormous size, and have 

 faces so lion-like in appearance that this resem- 

 blance has given the group its popular name, 

 — Sea-Lion. 



A Seal is a short-necked, fat-bodied, low-lying, 

 climisy animal, not nearly so active on land nor 

 so intelligent as a Sea-Lion. Its front flippers 

 are short, square-ended, fully covered with hair, 

 and provided with claws. They have no ex- 

 ternal ears of skin and cartilage. Their hair is 

 short, close, and stiff, and of no value as fur save 

 to the Eskimo, to whom every Seal is a Godsend, 

 and utilized in a great variety of ways. 



A Walrus is a sea mammal of great size, 

 formed somewhat like a Sea-Lion, and it is the 

 clumsiest hving creature that ever comes upon 

 land. It has t*o long ivory tusks that grow 

 downward from the upper jaw, a very thick 

 skin which lies in deep folds, no hair worth men- 

 tioning, and a very dull brain. 



The following are the groups and species which 

 every American should know : 



' Pin-ni-pe'di'a means "fin-footed." 



43 



