File:The American Museum journal (c1900-(1918)) (18134468986).jpg

Title: The American Museum journal
Identifier: americanmuseumjo18amer (find matches)
Year: c1900-(1918) (c190s)
Authors: American Museum of Natural History
Subjects: Natural history
Publisher: New York : American Museum of Natural History
Contributing Library: American Museum of Natural History Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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ing them, and at last bringing them safely again. out L.
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The young sea lions spend much of their time sleeping con- tentedly on the hard rocks. These pups are probably four or five weeks old But apparently the cows sometimes have not the skill, or hesitate to do this, for I watched five pups on the main island, that supposedly had been washed off the rookery. Their mothers came every night and at intervals through the day and nursed them. Two of them I saw swim unaided back to the rookery, a couple of hundred yards distant, and against a strong wind and a rather rough sea. They could not have been more than three weeks old, although under other conditions I never saw pups voluntarily enter the sea until they were six weeks or more old. The Steller's sea lion pup weighs hietween forty- five and fifty pounds. Its use of the fore and hind flippers in climbing about the rocks is well shown here to be driven for a short period after the pups are born. At this time they may be dangerous. Al- though I have never heard of anyone being harmed by a sea lion, boatmen tell many stories of having had to run from a wounded bull or an angry cow. I have had cows make savage luuges at me open-mouthed when I approached too near to a newly born pup. and after receiving such warning I had little in- clination to get closer to those big white teeth and bristling whiskers. Those of us who have children as an excuse for going to the circus, or who are honest enough to ad- mit that we go for our own amusement, remember seeing the trained sea lions catch balls that are thrown to them. This seems to be a .natural instinct. Once, when I wished to get a cow out of my way that I might examine a certain pup, I threw a stone at her, and to my surprise she caught it in her mouth. We

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