FIERCE SEA ELEPHANTS.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 12817, 17 July 1912, Page 8

FIERCE SEA ELEPHANTS.

SCARRED BY CONSTANT BATTLE

An account of the voyage of. the Aurora is contributed to the newspapers by Mr Edgar R. Waito, curator of the Canterbury Museum. Mr Waite has made some very -interesting notes regarding the sea elephants found at the Macquarie Islands : "The bull elephants when fully adult are much larger than the cows,, and they are so scarred and disfigured with fighting that it would be impossible to obtain what might be termed a perfect specimen. In selecting an animal for the Canterbury museum several factors had to be considered. The first was accessibility,, and I may mention that four men were employed m carrying the skin of the animal secured from the tussocks to the whaleboat. The skull and limb bones were, of course, included. Operations had to be carried on rapidly, for the captain was anxious lest a change of wind should prevent the boat getting back to the ship. One naturally wanted to obtain as large a specimen as was convenient, and at the same time secure ono as little disfigured as possible. It would seem that combatiyeness is first developed as playfulness, the. .young ones thus acquiring practice ,• for their fierce battle of. life. This fighting propensity is so common that it' may be witnessed anywhere, both on land and m the water. The bulls thus engaged approach each other, and, being immensely, heavy and ponderous, the combat is somewhat slow but very earnest. A bull will raise itself so that more than half its body is erected from the ground, and then, backed by a ton or more m weight, lunges itself forward, striking its opponent with teeth exposed; It is then its rival's turn 1 , and so ,the fight goes on, with the accompanying of loud bellowing and grunting, until one of the combatants has had sufficient for the time being. One sees long gaping, bleeding wounds m .their sides -or great scars, ; the results of previous conflicts j, or the damage may be much more serious. 1 saw several animal?! wit^.' b, tit one. oy.ey and I felt inclined to end the sufferings of one, poor brute, the eyeless socket of which was a festering cavity. Another bull aHd- a 'moderately ybi.ing one had lost the greater part of its lower jaw, whilo I saw one with nearly the whole of one yaddlcr torn off. ... .