The Nome nugget., 1939-12-04
SEA ELEPHANT FOUND IN ALASKAN WATERS
A Stranger To The North


 life, was recently washed ashore on the beach at Kasaan on Prince of Wales Island, TongasS Nation al Forest, where on November 6 it was viewed by Forest officers from the launch Forester"
 The only known herd of these animals is now found at Guad- alupe Island off the coast of Mex ico. Apparently it has never be fore been recorded north of Cal ifornia. Point Reyes and Point Loma are both listed as local itieS where it was formerly known. In 1929 one was killed on the high seas about forty mil es off Point Loma, San Diego, California, and the account of this capture states that it was the first individual of the species to be taken in California waters for many decades.
 Formerly these huge denizens of the sea were quite common off the coast of southern Calif- ornia where they hauled up in small herds on the islands and the more inaccessible beaches of the mainland. The large amount of oil in their bodies and their helplessneSs on shore tempted the sealers and Whalers, and be- tween 1855 and 1870 great num- bers were killed. It is recorded that in 1892 there were but nine elephant seals found on Guada- lupe Island and seven of these were successfully pursued and killed. Fifteen years later, in 1907, forty were found at this remote haven and fourteen of this number were killed. From this small nucleus the herd in- creased until in 1929 a count re vealed 469 seals.
 The elephant seal is the largest member of the seal family, the males attaining length of P feet and a weight approaching three tons. The common name is derived from the curious flexible snout of the males, which, when relaxed 6 to 10 inches below the muzzle. This structure which supericially resembles the trunk 1f an elephant can be moved about and even raised to a yer tical position. The speciman found at Kasaan is reported to have been shot in Kasaan Bay several days previously. It was large male IA to 15 feet long and estimated to weight between 5000 and 4000 pounds. When kill ed it was in excellent condition as shown by the heavy layer of blubber beneath the skin.
 Little is known of its food hab it's but the stomach contents of the Point Loma speciman indie ate that these large, slow-moving seals feed on the bottom in 50 to 150 fathom of water on Squids skates, ratfish and slow moving species of sharks. It only enemy other than man is reported to be the killer whale. The speci- man as KaSaan bore mute evi- dence of a previous encounter with a formidable enemy, an old scar of immense size on it's left side where a large piece of flesh had been torn out.
 It is interesting to conjecture if the occurrance of this south ern animal is in any way con nected with the reported occur renee of pompano, tuna, and oth CT warm water fishes in Alaska waters this past summer. Per haps Alaska may at some remote day once more boast the tropical climate which it did in the dim past, as is evidenced by the nu- merous fossilized tropical forms that have been found.
 Several excellent photographs were obtained by the Forest Ser vice and are being forwarded as evidence to the proper authorit- ies so that this extremely rare