The Van Buren press., 1898-09-03
SEA LIONS
-. e N eaeer Habit. 81 tae
U-Iz U=uizezs o. N. -1sR
xEue IN CsPtiFity.

&c tzs-5zz recently s1Hzrizieae-
- Szzszzz z=E 81 Enquirer nan
v--s azzzzz ze.sarely through he
- gardens vzz-u ell ot 8 sudden t.'e
.-=z-zz-zzIszr husAea tie eoHFersa-
- =zz STOPPING. listened attentive
lv. After moment 9r ts9 Il con
tsza-z- Do whisper
Hear tHz.s Hear that
: los. queer NOAH broke By pam
.sTz r|zsrs= something = i from dog
6.-=sr whipped. ssas heard
ZONE sid the superintendent
starring across zm5rg The trees, down
ttr5zea 3 picturesque liefle vale ana
steep miniature mountain
THAT'S oze . The rarest soLz[is n ne
wsr.5-oaz thzt mighty few people
av-r asz-. It'sIhe cry 0t sea lioness
wtzr shz has young. I didn't kno"
.rz= s1v zaeh an event was coming.
And vet the cry i one that never IN
al r3r existence heard given under any
other circumstance. AID We hahdiFe
sea lions by the herd
Two or three minutes later superin-
tezaeuf ard newspaper man reached
~ great eireular sea Ion basin. They
found The female swimming feebly
hack ard forth IN q track that de-
sc-zb-6 2 crescent. while the male
-ueh the larger and sturdier Of the
.wo-xas ear0rtIng around and under
ter in The most furious kind Offashion.
After viewing them closely a moment
OF TWO fha superintendent moved anN-
fously around 10 where he could peer
iH-8 The opening in the big stone rock
err erected in the center Of the great
s0oz y water. and that j. used By the
sea lions for shelter from sun and
storm when sither becomes too Sc
ye-e for them
= can't see any baby Hon from here.
said The animal man. "bHt from the
way the female Is acting and the moth
erfrg cry she j. uttering IN morally
certain there's been a birth" Then he
climbed up over the bridge that leads
from outside the water den on TO the
:op OF the rookery and made further
examination.
But no baby vas found.
The deYiI OF :. male has evidently
killed ard swallowed IT." said the su-
perintendent. Male sea lions in cap
tivity will 10 a bastard trick Ike that.
No animal in the world Is more deyilish
70 fool with than a sea lion. I'd risk
nv Iife 40 times over in cage with
Jungle lion rather than with a sea lion.
There amt more treaeherous NAM
maj that lives than the average sea
lion. They can never be got so that
rs safe % even touch them. They
have little sawlike teeth. and they bite
and hang on Ike a bulldog. They seem
70 breed in captivity about as often as
when in their native waters. Only
one i born at d time. ard they suckle
their young like other animals. \ full
grown sea lion weighs from 400 10 COO
pounds. and their average life in cap
tivity IS only about year and half.
Why are they called sea lions? For
a reason that's no reason al all. name
i. because of the barking noise which
they make They eat nothing but fish.
y fish thrown at them from distance
OF 90 to 30 feet will De caught with the
skill of league baseballist. II they
happen 10 catch it tail first they will
toss il into the air and catch il again
head first. which is the only way they
can swallow il. Dead, but fresh, fish
are fed to them. When they get of
their feed we feed the fish 10 them
alive. When they become really sick
which is not infrequently. we partial
ly dress a fish, fill it with codliver oil
and feed it TO the sea lion. The male
and the female look just alike. only
the male IS the larger. There are two
colOrs OF sea lions. one is drak brown
and the other a light red. Their skin.
that is covered with hair about half an
inch long. can be tanned, but does not
make good leather. II is too spongy.
The meat is black. tough and oily. For
Zoo and other show purposes a sea
lions value is between 5000 and $3.50
! said they live about a year and hall
in captivity. We had one here. named
Prince, that thousands OF people will
remember, that lived 70 years at this
Zoo, but he vas a notable exception.
II is widely claimed that sea lions
never drink. l have seen our sea lions
lay on the brink OF the rookerv and
drink water for five minutes at a time.
\ sea lion is a dangerous thing to
tackle on land or water. On land thev
move very much like a caterpillar. The
sea lions in this country come from
on Santa Barbara islands. POO miles
from San Francisco."-Cincinnati En-
nuirer