ELEPHANT SEAL, the largest of the hair seals (Macrorhinus leoninus), usually over 20 feet long, with a circumference of 12 feet around the thickest part of the chest The female is much smaller than the male. In color this seal is grayish ; its body is covered with short hair, growing in patches, which gives a spotted look to the animal. The head is pro portionately large, with prominent eyes and thick eyebrows; the whiskers are long; and the canine teeth are so large as to form tusks. The nose of the males is prolonged into a proboscis about a foot long, which, seemingly useless, hangs loosely over the face. When this is dilated it gives a new character to the crea ture's voice. This species has been almost ex terminated, owing to the demand for its oil, though less than a century ago it was plentiful in the southern hemisphere. The skin is not valued for its fur and the flesh is not edible.
The herds migrate southward in summer and northward in winter to avoid the extremes of temperature. The northern elephant seal M. an
gustirostris, is also nearly extinct, being confined to the island of Guadaloupe, off Lower Califor nia. Consult Moseley, 'Notes by a Naturalist on the (London 1879) ; Townsend, The Northern Elephant Seal) (Zoologica, Vol. I, No. 8, New York 1912).
the typical species Mac roscelides, of the family Macroscelsclidcr, belonging to the order of insect-eating mam mals. The body, in general appearance and size, resembles that of the common rat. The popular name alludes to its peculiar, elongated nose, which looks like an elephant's trunk. The hind legs, which are long and out of all pro portion to the length of the fore legs, fit the animal for jumping, giving it the additional name of jumping-shrew. This insect-eater is confined to Africa. It moves by jumps, lives on the sandy plains, makes burrows in the sand and finds its prey among the grass and bushes.