Part 124

Skin.--As in all Pinnipeds the skin is hairy, most probably the hairs are quite stiff and not woolly like fur.

Colours, Individual Variations.--We have only to read different descriptions of seals, sea-lions, and sea-bears, to observe that every species varies much as to its colour, but that in some there is a wide range of individual variations. Only in a few species the under part is darker than the upper part, but generally the upper part is much darker than the under part, and with regard to their colours the animals are so to say longitudinally divided into two sections, dark above, lighter beneath. Their being variegated with spots or streaks occurs in many species, less in sea-lions and sea-bears, more in seals, but is the most striking in the Hooded Seal (Cystophora cristata, (ERXL) NILSS.). If we closely examine this species, the question arises: is not the lighter colour the ground-colour, and are not the dark spots and streaks and circles secondary appearances? And I think that this question must be answered in the affirmative. Remarkable is also the black colour of the region of the mouth and round the eye in some individuals of sea-serpents. This singularity occurs also in some specimens of other Pinnipeds. Of Eumetopias Stelleri “the end of the nose.... is naked and.... dull blue black” (ALLEN, Hist. N. Am. Pinn. p. 234, 235); of Zalophus californianus we read: “A third is.... blackish around the eyes and nostrils” (ALLEN, Hist. N. Am. Pinn. p. 277). In a foetal specimen: “nose and face, to and around the eyes” are “black” (Ibid., p. 278); and NILSSON’S black variety of the Ringed Seal (Phoca foetida FABR.) has “nose and eye-rings uniform black” (Ibid. p. 602).

Sexual differences, Mane.--The males of some species of Pinnipeds have a mane, i. e. the hairs of the neck are longer than on the rest of the body. Of Eumetopias Stelleri “the hair is longest on the anterior upper portion of the body, where on the neck and shoulders it attains a length of 40 mm.; it decreases in length posteriorly, and toward the tail has a length of only 15 mm.” (ALLEN, Hist. N. Am. Pinn. p. 234). Of the hairs of Callorhinus ursinus we read: “It is longest on the top of the head, especially in the males, which have a well marked crest. The hair is much longer on the anterior half of the body than on the posterior half, it being longest on the hinder part of the neck, where in the males it is very coarse. On the crown the hair has a length of 42 mm.; on the hinder part of the neck it reaches a length of 50 to 60 mm. From this point posteriorly it gradually shortens, and near the tail has a length of only 20 mm. The males have much longer hair than the females, in which it is much longer than in Eumetopias Stelleri.” (ALLEN, Hist. N. Am. Pinn. p. 315).

The difference in size of males and females is also a peculiar character of some species of Pinnipeds, as may be seen from the following tables:

+----------------------------+---------+---------+-------+ | | VERY OLD| VERY OLD| | | NAME | MALE. | FEMALE.| RATIO.| +----------------------------+---------+---------+-------+ |Zalophus californianus | 8¹⁄₃ ft.| 6³⁄₄ ft.|100:81 | |Eumetopias Stelleri |13 „ | 9 „ |100:69 | |Macrorhinus leoninus |25 „ |15 „ |100:60 | |Macrorhinus angustirostris|22 „ |13 „ |100:59 | |Callorhinus ursinus | 8 „ | 4 „ |100:50.| +----------------------------+---------+---------+-------+

In Callorhinus ursinus the female, as we observe, attains only half the length of a male. The weight of a fullgrown female being less than one sixth that of a full-grown male.

The losing of hair when the animals grow very old, is very striking in both Odobaenus rosmarus and in Odobaenus obesus.

Food. The food of all Pinnipeds consists of mussels, and other mollusks, especially, however, of all kinds of fish, but that they are not averse to cetacean flesh, may be proved by the following fact: Mr. BROWN says of Odobaenus rosmarus: “I have only to add that whenever it was killed near where a whale’s carcass had been let adrift, its stomach was unvariably found crammed full of the krang or flesh of that Cetacean” (ALLEN, Hist. N. Am. Pinn. p. 135). Eumetopias Stelleri occasionally eats birds (Ibid. p. 274).

Breathing.--Even in seals and sea-lions it may be occasionally observed that they “blow like a whale”; I myself saw it more than once, when the animals lay with their nose at water level, or when they appeared on the surface after having remained under water for a long time. It is sufficiently known that the average time these animals remain under water is eight or ten minutes, but they have also been observed lying quite still on the bottom for more than three hours. I read in Mr. ALLEN’S work (p. 180) that also walruses “blow not unlike a whale”.

Excretion.--The emitting a very strong odour is also known in Pinnipeds. KRASCHENINIKOW says of Callorhinus ursinus: “Such as are old, or have no mistresses, live apart; and the first that our people found upon Behring’s Island were such old ones, and all males, extremely fat and stinking” (ALLEN, p. 342). Of Eumetopias Stelleri CHORIS reports: “L’odeur qu’ils répandent est insupportable. Ces animaux étaient alors dans le temps du rut” (ALLEN, p. 254), and of Phoca foetida KUMLIEN asserts:

“It is only the adult males (called Tigak, = Stinker, by the Eskimo) that emit the horribly disagreeable, all-permeating, ever-penetrating odor that has suggested its specific name. It is so strong that one can smell an Eskimo some distance when he has been partaking of the flesh; they say it is more nourishing than the flesh of the females, and that a person can endure great fatigue after eating it. If one of these Tigak comes in contact with any other Seal meat it will become so tainted as to be repulsive to an educated palate; even the atluk of the Tigak can be detected by its odor.” (ALLEN, p. 624).

Respecting the foetid odour emitted by this species, Dr. RINK observes as follows:

“It derives its scientific name from the nauseous smell peculiar to certain older individuals, especially those captured in the interior ice-fjords, which are also on an average perhaps twice as large as those generally occurring off the outer shores. When brought into a hut, and cut up on its floor, such a seal emits a smell resembling something between that of assafoetida and onions, almost insupportable to strangers. This peculiarity is not noticeable in the younger specimens or those of a smaller size, such as are generally caught, and at all events the smell does not detract from the utility of the flesh over the whole of Greenland”.--Danish Greenland, its People and its Products p. 123 (ALLEN, Hist. N. Am. Pinn. p. 624).

Feeling. Also in seals and sea-lions in our Zoological Gardens we may often observe that they dislike wind, and hold only the top of their nose above water, that they shut their eyes, and like to bask in the sun.

Smell, Hearing, Sight. It is also known of Pinnipeds that their smell is very good and their hearing very sharp, but that their sight is quite limited. This must not surprise us. Their eyes are adapted to see under water, but such eyes don’t see so well in the air. Yet I have observed that seals distinguish their keeper from other persons at a distance of twenty or thirty yards.

Relative mobility of organs. Every one who has ever witnessed the graceful movements of seals and sea-lions, especially those of Zalophus californianus will admit that these animals, like sea-serpents, are “as limber and active as an eel”. There is not one movement made by the sea-serpent, which cannot be made in perfectly the same way by sea-lions, especially by Zalophus californianus, save the movement of the tail.

Motion. The same may be observed in comparing the motions of sea-serpents with those of Zalophus californianus. They too may appear on the surface, exposing head, neck, and so much of the forepart of the trunk, as to show their flappers; nay, they may like all kinds of whales, jump clear out of the water. When swimming slowly, they may occasionally swim with vertical undulations, they usually, however, propel themselves by means of their flappers, holding their body in a straight line; and sometimes horizontal undulations are distinctly visible; in darting on some prey they swim not only with their flappers, but undulate their body both horizontally and vertically at intervals. Of course generally only one or two, seldom three undulations are to be counted.

I don’t know if sea-lions have ever been seen swimming with fixed bunches, or folds. When at rest their skin may enormously wrinkle, like that of walruses, and as is shown in our fig. 78.

In swimming the sea-lion usually holds its head above water, and may occasionally raise its long neck as high as possible to take a view of a boat or another object.

Owing to the form and size of its flappers the speed of the sea-lion is really astonishing; it is much less in seals.

Though in a less degree, than in sea-serpents, the water curls up before its chest, or better throat, in swimming; foam is occasionally observed, and waves are seen in the form of a V, a wake is of course formed, and a rushing may be heard at times.

That seals swim so low under the surface of the water, that the course of the animal can be traced only by the rippling surface, I have myself witnessed, but I do not know if sea-lions, especially, if Zalophus californianus, are in the habit of swimming in this way.

The manner of disappearing of the sea-serpent is exactly the same as that of other Pinnipeds. They may turn down with a severe splash, or sink gradually below the surface, or even, by a sudden upward motion of their flappers, “sink down like a rock”.

As to the voice of other Pinnipeds it is different in the different species, but as we have not a single statement of the voice of sea-serpents, comparison is out of the question here.

Generation.--The rutting time and the time of whelping differ in different species, but on an average the month of March and April may be fixed upon as the pairing time, and July and August as those in which the females bring forth the young ones.

In some species the males are much larger than the females, and the new born young ones, like the young sea-serpents are in exact proportion to the old males, as may be seen from the following table.

+----------------------------+----------+----------+---------+ | NAME. | VERY OLD | NEW BORN | RATIO. | | | MALE. |YOUNG ONE.| | +----------------------------+----------+----------+---------+ |Zalophus californianus | 8¹⁄₃ ft.| 2¹⁄₃ ft.| ¹⁄₃-¹⁄₄ | |Macrorhinus angustirostris| 22 „| 4 „ | ¹⁄₅-¹⁄₆ | |Eumetopias Stelleri | 13 „| 2 „ | ¹⁄₆-¹⁄₇ | |Callorhinus ursinus | 8 „| 10 in. | ¹⁄₈-¹⁄₉ | +----------------------------+----------+----------+---------+

Taking notice of objects. It is well enough known that seals will sometimes keep near a vessel, turning their head towards it; or will play round the vessel, disappearing on one side, reappearing on the other, as if playing hide and seek; from this it may be concluded they are in no dread of the vessel, but are curious, and suspicious of the living objects on it. I don’t know whether sea-lions and sea-bears behave in the same way, but I know that walruses do.