File:Brehm's Life of animals - a complete natural history for popular home instruction and for the use of schools. Mammalia (1896) (20413416755).jpg

Title: Brehm's Life of animals : a complete natural history for popular home instruction and for the use of schools. Mammalia
Identifier: brehmslifeofanim1896breh (find matches)
Year: 1896 (1890s)
Authors: Brehm, Alfred Edmund, 1829-1884; Pechuel-Loesche, Edward, 1840-1913; Haacke, Wilhelm, 1855-1912; Schmidtlein, Richard
Subjects: Mammals; Animal behavior
Publisher: Chicago : Marquis
Contributing Library: Internet Archive
Digitizing Sponsor: Internet Archive

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THE ORDINARY SEALS—SADDLE-BACK. 279 parts, the under portion being of a dull, russet, sil- ver-gray tint; and the chocolate colored, or blackish- brown face, including forehead, cheeks and muzzle, and the markings of the back, stand out in bold relief against this hue. These markings are more or less sharply defined and of oblong, horseshoe or lyre shape. Some individuals of the species show the saddle narrow like a ribbon, others have it per- ceptibly wider. The female is smaller and its color- ing differs from that of the male to such an extent that it has been considered and described as a distinct species by some writers. The snow white fur of the cubs gradually merges into the tint of their parents during the lapse of several years. The Saddle-Back is confined to the highest lati- tudes of the north, though its range perhaps extends through the Straits of Behring into the northern Adult males attain a length of from ninety-two to one hundred inches; the females lack the hood and are of perceptibly smaller dimensions. Of the Seals of the northern Arctic Ocean the Crested Seal seems to have a very limited range and occurs in small numbers. According to Fabricius, it is most frequent off the coasts of Greenland and Newfoundland, less so on the western coast of Ice- land and a rare visitor, probably only when it has lost its way, farther south. According to the accounts of many writers this species is one of the most courageous and pugna- cious of Seals, and hunting it is not devoid of danger. When it lies on the ice in comfortable repose, it produces the impression of utter indifference to all surroundings, and the far-off look of its large, black eye seems rather dull; neither does it attack any
Text Appearing After Image:
THE SADDLE BACK SEAL. This member of the Seal family is found in the Arctic latitudes extending as far uuith in the circuni- polar regions as explorers have yet penetrated. It gels its name " Saddle-Back " from the large patch of white fur on its upper surface, which is in bold contrast to the brownish-black fur surrounding it. The somewhat narrow head is also a distinguishing feature. The animals in the picture are comfortably resting on a great ice-floe. This species is also known by the names of "Harp Seal " and " Greenland Seal." (Phoca grxnlandica.) Pacific. Single specimens have repeatedly been ob- served on the coasts of Lapland and Norway, and even of Great Britain and Germany. The Crested or As a representative of the Hooded Bladder-Nose Seals we will consider the Crested Seal. or Bladder-Nose Seal (Cystopkora crisfata,) one of the largest Seals of the Arctic Ocean, distinguished above all other things by a bladder which extends over the nose, the whole upper par* of the muzzle and nearly the entire upper surface of the head, and which may be distended with air or emptied at will. When filled with air it forms a bag ten inches long and eight inches high and looks like a cap drawn over the front part of the head; when closed it may be compared to a keel dividing the nose into two parts. The head is large, the muzzle is thick and blunt, the body resembles that of all other Seals. Old and young are of different color, but the hue is not affected by sex. The fur consists of a long outer coat and a close woolly inner fur, the upper part as a rule being of a dark nut-brown or black tint, diversified with large or small circular spots of still deeper color; the under surface is of a dark gray or rusty silver-gray, devoid of spots. living being unprovoked, but it is easily excited and then prone to offer resistance. Characteristics The Elephant Seal (MacrorhifiM of the leoninus) resembles the other Seals Elephant Seal. jn respect to its general shape but is superior to all in size; the length at least of those of the Californian coast has been found to be a little more than twenty-two feet, though the average length is about fifteen feet. The female attains about half this length, but not even a third of the weight, old males being estimated to weigh more than six thousand pounds. The head is large, wide and elongated, the muzzle of moderate length, toler- ably broad, slightly tapering in front and truncated in a nearly vertical direction; the upper lip is grown with stout, dark brown whisker hairs, sometimes six inches long; the eye is relatively large, round like a ball, and protuberant; the exceedingly small ear is, properly speaking, only a roundish hole, which is not even surrounded by a ridge of the skin. The nose differs materially according to the sex. While this significant organ shows no unusual development in the female, it is in the male prolonged into a pro- boscis, beginning at the corner of the mouth and

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