In the seals the five toes of the limbs have become palmate, being
joined together by a web; the hind feet have a backward, horizontal
direction. Their food consists of small marine animals and plants.
=Seal= (_Phoca vitulina_).--The habitat of the common seal is spread
over a large area, but it is chiefly found in the northern seas. It is
nearly six feet long, and its fur is yellowish grey, sprinkled above
with dark-brown spots. It has no exterior ear. To the inhabitants of the
north the seal is a most useful animal; its flesh and fat form their
chief food, with its oil they illuminate the long winter nights, its
sinews they use as thread, from its bones they make various domestic
implements, and with its fur they cover their tents and sledges. Seals
are gentle animals, and when tamed exhibit great attachment to man. When
wounded they snap savagely in all directions. Seal-hunting forms one of
the most important branches of commerce among seafaring nations. Over a
thousand vessels leave America every year to take part in seal-hunting;
and as one vessel will sometimes capture nearly two thousand seals, some
idea may be obtained of the immense number of these animals which are
slain annually.
=Walrus= (_Trichechus rosmarus_).--This animal is from eighteen to
twenty-two feet long, and weighs from two thousand to three thousand
pounds. It is easily recognized by the long tusks in its upper jaw,
which attain a length of eighteen to twenty-four inches.
The walrus lives in the northern Polar seas, where it is sometimes met
with in herds of a thousand to two thousand head. They either swim about
in the water or lie basking in the sun upon ice-floes. When they are
about to sleep one remains awake as sentinel. They attract whole herds
to their assistance by their terrific roaring, which can be heard for
several miles; in all directions their black heads, with red, dilated
eyes, and gleaming tusks, emerge from the water. The walrus is hunted
for its tusks, skin and oil.
=ANIMALS OTHER THAN BIRDS THAT HAVE LEARNED TO FLY=
[Illustration: =FLYING-FOX WITH OUTSPREAD WINGS. ITS ANCESTORS ONCE
WALKED THE EARTH LIKE OTHER MAMMALS=]
[Illustration: =SQUIRREL-LIKE PHALANGER=]
[Illustration: =A FLYING FROG=
It glides through air by means of the membranes uniting the toes, but is
not capable of sustained flight.]
[Illustration: =COMMON BAT=
The bat is the only animal, outside of the birds, that can really fly in
the true sense.]
=Sea Lion= (_Otaria stelleri_).--The home of the Sea Lion is Bering Sea,
and as far South as the Kurile Islands on the one side of the north
Pacific and California on the other. In the latter case a rookery of sea
lions is strictly preserved by the American Government, or probably long
ere this the animal would have been exterminated in those waters, as it
has been in many other regions after a century and a half of constant
persecution.
The male sea lion, of eleven or twelve feet in length and a thousand
pounds in weight, is yellowish-brown in color with shaded darker
patches. There is a distinct mane upon the neck, which, with its
upright posture, combines to give the creature its supposed leonine
appearance. The males are fierce in aspect, and if hard pressed will
turn and show fight. Old animals bellow like bulls; the younger ones
bleat like sheep. They bolt their fish without mastication. The female
is only about half the dimensions of the male, and is considerably
lighter in color. The animal is useful only for its hide, flesh, and
fat.