HOOKER’S SEA-BEAR, 
Otaria hookeri. 
Plate XI. 
The Sea-bear, purchased by the Society in 1806, was certainly one of the most interesting animals ever 
acquired for the collection, being remarkable not only on account of its strange and peculiar appearance, but 
also as belonging to a group of Mammals which had never previously been seen alive in Europe. One of 
the great divisions of the marine Carnivores—the Phocidae, or Seal family—is always represented in the 
Society’s living series, by one or more individuals. A second remarkable type of the same order—the 
Walrus—has also been once exhibited in the Gardens, as will be seen on reference to the figures of this 
animal, given in the first volume of these Sketches. But the external form and appearance of the Otariee, or 
Eared Seals, which constitute the third great division of the order of Pinnipedes, was quite unknown in 
Europe until the arrival of the present specimen. 
This animal, which was a male, was obtained when quite young along with an individual of the opposite 
sex, by a French sailor, named Lecomte, in the vicinity of Cape Horn, in the month of June, 1862. The 
female was lost during the voyage to Europe, but the male arrived in safety, and was exhibited by its 
capturer in various parts of France and England, until the month of January, 1866, when it passed into the 
possession of the Zoological Society. I.ecomte was at the same time engaged to attend upon it, and has 
since remained in the Society’s service. 
The Sea-bear lived in good health in the Society’s Gardens rather more than a year, when it was seized 
with a violent attack of inflammation in the abdominal region, caused, it is believed, by a fish hook, swallowed 
accidentally in one of the fishes which formed its daily sustenance, and died in spite of every attention. 
During its life in the Gardens, it attracted universal attention, not only on account of its strange form, but 
likewise from its extraordinary docility and intelligence. It exhibited the strongest attachment to its keeper, 
and obeyed his slightest commands with the utmost readiness. Its food during this period consisted entirely of 
raw fish—principally haddocks and whitings—of which it consumed about 20 lbs. weight every day. During 
the summer it passed the greater part of the day-time in the water, often, however, coming out and exhibiting 
its singular mode of progression round the edges of the basin in which it was kept, to the delight of the 
admiring public. The night was usually passed in an adjoining shed fitted up for the purpose. 
The use of the hind limbs in terrestrial progression at once separates the Otarice from the true seals—and 
its mode of aquatic locomotion likewise exhibits some differences, -which are described by an accurate 
observer as follows :— 
“ When swimming slowly the fore limbs only are employed in propelling the body, but when the animal 
wishes to swim rapidly the hinder paddles are used, and these are not swayed together from side to side, but 
each being brought forward laterally is then struck back against the water. In turning to left or right, the 
paddles of the opposite side—that from which it turns—are alone used.” 
Although of great economic importance to mankind from their valuable fur, which supplies the 
fashionable “ seal-skin coats” of our fair countrywomen, the Eared Seals are still very imperfectly known to 
Naturalists. Many of the recognized species rest solely upon skulls belonging to different Museums, the external 
form of the corresponding animal being wholly unknown. In other cases species have been established upon 
skins without the structure of the skulls having been examined. A third series of names has been founded upon 
nothing more than the vague descriptions of the earlier navigators, many of whom give the most entertaining 
narratives of their encounters with these animals. It has thus come to pass that, in spite of the recent efforts 
of Dr. Peters to set matters right, the whole group of Otaria is in a state of great confusion, and is likely 
to remain so, until our Museums are supplied with a better series of the skins and skeletons of these 
animals than they now possess. 
Under these circumstances it was not without much doubt and hesitation that when the living animal 
above spoken of was acquired by the Society, I determined it to be the Otaria hookeri- a species established by 
Dr. Gray in the “ Zoology of the Voyage of the Erebus and Terror.” But a close examination of the animal, 
since its decease, and in particular the examination of its skull, has served to show that this view was 
correct and that our living animal certainly belonged to the same species as that named by Dr. Gray after 
the celebrated botanist who took part in the “ Antarctic Expedition.” It is very possible, however, that 
the present animal may be the same as that spoken of by Forster in his narrative of Cook’s second voyage, 
when after describing the “ Sea-lions,” (Otaria jubata), met with in great abundance on New-year's Island off 
Staten Land, he adds that on the summit of this island they discovered “another kind of seals—Sea-bears”— 
and proceeds to point out the differences between them and the “ Sea-lions.” Upon this somewhat vague 
information Lesson established his Otaria forsteri, so that, if it can be hereafter shown that Forster’s Sea-bear 
couid have been no other than Hooker’s Sea-bear, the present animal may have to bear the name of the 
former Naturalist, as its permanent designation, instead of the latter. 
