River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1888-01-19
A BABY IN FURS.
,ome Very singular Habits % the Seal
Family.

sem
Family.
On any one of great many small
Stands along the uninhabited parts OF
Our coasts lives little beast whose
Oabyhood is one Of the strangest we
tnow. The largest tribes of these ami
mails live far away to the North. and
they are much more numerous in the
Pacific than in the Atlantic Ocean.
1t is so cold and wet in his native
and that this creature wears two coats
If fur to keep warm. and it is so un-
comfortable for men that no one,
except the natives. who are used to the
climate. cares to stay there long
enough to find out about his ways.
But this baby happens to be very
important youngster. because the coat
Ae wears is so desired by ladies to put
IN their own backs that it becomes
rery valuable. 1t is seal-skin, and the
baby, of course, is the fur seal. A few
rears ago Prof Henry w. Elliott was
tent by the Smithsonian Institntion OF
Washington to find out all about seals,
md what he tells us of the first few
months of seal baby life is most curious
md interesting.
When this infant comes into the cold.
vet world, he is about as big as half
grown cat He is dressed in a suit of
rather long. black hair. with an under
eoat of fine, short fur. and he has a
mail white spot behind each forearm.
His head is pretty, as are the heads of
al seals, and he has beautiful, large,
iark-blue eyes. with long lashes. His
loreHippers. broad, finlike looking
ihings, are extremely useful. On them
ie walks, taking two short mincing
steps. then bringing up with jerk his
body. which rests on the heels of his
,indflippers. With these also he
wins. His hindflippers, however. are
he strangest members one can imag-
ne. They are long and thin, or fiat.
IS Prof Elliott says, like black kid
glove pressed fiat and wrinkled. The
hng fingers, turned far out on each
tide. flap about in a useless kind Of way
In swimming they are used to steer
with, but on shore merely to far and
scratch himself. He never rests on IL lem.
The young seal is a regular baby.
The first thing he does is to cry with q
weak "blaat," like that of lamb. He
has. too. a baby's way of eating till he
S too full and is obliged to let the food
some up again, which looks droll
enough in an animal.
One of the most peculiar things is his
ondness for babies of his own kind.
As soon as he can get about, he
leaves his home and joins his fellow
babies. These little fellows collect in
great numbers by themselves, back of
he ground their elders occupy. When
= mother-seal comes up from the sea to
Nurse her little one, she approaches
the nursery of thousands of Youngsters
looking all alike. calling as she comes.
Hundreds of little voices answer her
:all, but she knows her own. and bitches
herself through the crowd, pushing
The others right and left, till she
reaches him and feeds him.
Then she goes away and leaves him
with his playfellows. She doesn't seem
% care that he prefers to be with them;
m fact, this is seal fashion. When they
20 back to the life in the sea. the
iathers go by themselves. the mothers
N parties Of their own. the half-grown
Foung bachelors" as they are called.
In their own company. and, strangest
IF all, the babies also together.
A very interesting sight is a field five
Or six miles long filled with little seals,
hundreds of thousands of them, almost
as thick as grains of sands on the
Ihore. Many are lying around in every
possible position. Some of them are
Hat on their backs, with hindflippers
drawn up to the chin and the foreflip-
pers crossed on the breast; others lie
Hat on the stomach, with hindfippers
under the body; still others on the
,ide, with one ripper held up in the
air; while some are curled up in ring
like a dog.
Most of these babies sleep in a rest
less, jerky. nervous way, as if they had
bad dreams. Many will be seen play
ing with each other, Looping over the
ground uneasily. day and night alike,
or rolling over and over in good-na-
tured frolic; for these amiable little
beasts are never ill-natured. The
sounds arising from the multitude will
be the blaat of hunger and the chool
choOi of surprise.
The interesting time in this water
baby's life comes when he learns to
swim. His parents take no notice of
him. and the little fellow has to attend
TO his own education, for, strange to
say, though destined to pass his life in
the water, he can not swim till he has
learned.
1t happens thus: In his wandering
about the land, when he gets to be five
or six weeks old, the pup-as he is
called-first or last stumbles upon the
beach, and into the edge of the surf
This is a new element, but it has fas-
eination for him that he can not resist
The first time wave washes up and
goes over him, he turns in hot haste
and scrambles back upon the land. very
much frightened; but in a moment or
two back he goes. founders about in
the first wave, struggles and beats the
water with his little fiippers. and comes
out so tired that he has to take a nap at
once.
Every day the young seals play in
the water. very clumsy and awkward
at first, but learning more as time goes
on, till. before many weeks. the whole
baby population of hundreds of thou
sands of pups spend most of their time
In the surf. swarming along the whole
coast. frolicking and chatting in great
glee.
By the time the old seals leave the
land. and the young one begins to feel
desire to go. too. the young seal can
swim and dive and sport and sleep in
the water with ease, Also he has
learned to get from it his food, consist
ing of small squads and other little
creatures. till he is strong and expert
enough to catch fish.
By the middle of September this
.elf-trsining is ended. and the young
seals weigh thirty or forty pounds As
the time draws near for them 70 take