Joyce Odum, age 9, of Jamestown, North Carolina, for her question:
What sort of animal is the elephant seal?
The deer mouse is a mouse who has a deer colored coat and lives in the leafy woods. The mouse deer is a dainty little deer who lives a mousey life in the deep jungles. The elephant seal is a seal a whopping sized seal with a nose that looks a little bit like an elephant trunk.
Elephants are elephants and seals are seals and the two are not related to each other. The elephant seal borrows both of their names. But the second name is his true one. Of all the different seals in the world, he is the biggest. And this giant of the seal family has a long soft nose that usually dangles down nine inches below his chin. When he wishes, he can inflate this amazing trunk with air. He does this when he wants to holler loud and clear. His mighty voice booms and toots through his hollow trunk and my, how he can roar!
Years ago, there were large herds of elephant seals in the oceans of the world. But the big fellows were hunted down for their fat and oil. Now only a few are left. The. countries of the world made strict laws to stop elephant seal hunting. Several small herds are protected near New Zealand. Other herds live safe lives off the shores of Lower California. They are beginning to multiply and their numbers are growing. Thoughtful people are trying to save what is left of the elephant seals, but the big fellows still have reason to fear Man the Hunter.
A father seal is called a bull. A bull elephant may measure 18 feet from his trunk to the tip of his twin back flippers. The big bull seal measures another 18 feet around his fat tummy. And on the scales he weighs at least 5,000 pounds, or 2 1/2 tons. The bulky fellow would never win a beauty contest. When on the shore, he flops flat on his blubbery tummy and uses his sturdy front flippers to prop up his huge shoulders. His massive neck looks somewhat like a pile of old rubber tires.
He looks his worst when time comes to shed his coat. His outer skin blisters and peels of in raggedy patches, hair and all. Later he gets a sleek new coat of brownish grey. On the shore, he is as clumsy as he looks. But in the sea, the bulky giant is a graceful swimmer. He dives deep to hunt for squid and dogfish. Sometimes he catches and devours a small shark. After dinner, he flops ashore to snooze and the elephant seal likes to sleep in peace and quiet. If you walk by, he opens a drowsy eye and uses a flipper to whack a shower of sand and gravel in your direction. He has a very good aim. So naturally you walk away and the elephant seal goes back to enjoy the rest of his nap.
The mother elephant seal is a little more than half the size of the bull. She has no trunk. Sometimes she may bear twins. But as a rule, she bears only one seal pup. The chubby youngster is 2 1/2 feet long and covered with jet black hair. For about six weeks, he feeds on mother's milk. Then she coaxes and pushes him from his roost on the shore. It is time for the young pup to learn to swim and find his own fishy food in the sea. He stays near his mother for almost a year. Both of them stay with the herd of other mothers and growing children. And the herd is guarded and protected by the mighty bull seals.