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Show rr-. 3BCSZ MAMMOTH SEA ELEPHANT. : :4i Berlin Zoological Garden Mounts the Largest Specimen Xve Known. A new and Interesting attraction at the Berlin Zoological gardes Is a Mounted specimen ot a monster sea elephant. ele-phant. It can claim the distinction of being the largest sea elephant that has ever been kilted. ,'i ' It was found some 18 months ago by whalers off the coast ofjthe Falkland Falk-land Islands. They promptly sur-j rounded tho monster nnd subsequent- ly slaughtered It no casy:.tasK and tho hide, with. tho raw skclotou. was purchased at a high prlco by 'J F O, JP Umlouff. ' H Some Idea of the size of the monster Q may be gauged from the factrthut from tho tip of Its tusk It has n total meas- urement of nearly 21 feet., tSucu nn animal, when nlivo, would weigh 10.000 pounds, or nearly four and one-half H tons. Tho clrcumferonco ciftho body B at Its widest part Is somo 18 feet. Tho Q skull alono measures two feot thros M Inches long and ono foot two Inches 1 high. I B The sea olephant, or seal elephant, Is In many ways an Interesting crca- t ture. So far size goes, he can glvo points to the walrus, but he Is' cc-'aln- ly not so ferocloys looking.,. Except for the curious nose (whenco'hls Greek 1 name), he Is just a big black seat, fair-' 1 ly agile in tho sea and clumsy ashore. I like all his kind. He Is about the bulk I of a hippopotamus, although more I hirsute and with a less extensive open I Ing of the jaws. He holds among I seals the unique position of being com- f mon to both hemispheres, although I from the ardor with which he has been 1 hunted, very few specimens now exist north of the equator. ' Just now, however, the sqa elophant , Is enjoying a respite and , Is conso-! quently Increasing In numbers rapidly, ' partlpularly In the southern seas Ho! forms practically tho on.y population , of many an otherwlso lonoly series ot ' barren rocks In the Antarctic ocean, j His food consists chiefly, If not entirely, en-tirely, of cuttlefish. Formerly tho an!- j mal was hunted by vhalers upon all K the Islands of the Antarctic ocean, I b notably Kerguelen's. Land and tho! 0 South Shetland, where they abounded ' H In Immense hords. The creatures were ' G slaughtered for their hides and blub-; I ber. I I The tusks ot the male reach a length , I of four or five Inches, their external , part being smooth and cc&lcal, while tho part Imbedded In th flesh is fur- j I rowed and slightly curved.' The tusks I of the males are solid at the lower 1 end only a slight cavity appears while In the -female they are shorter, and, ! I moreover, almost hollow up to the I point Sailors and seal hunters are , I fond of using these hollow teoth or tho ; females for pipe bowls, quills from tho , wings of pollcans supplying suitable ' I stems for the pipes: '.' j |
