Richmond Palladium (Daily), Volume 44, Number 285, 13 September 1919 — Page 15

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TIM. Kl IIM'lMi PALI-AIMIM. S.VIl UIV. SF.PTF.M MKIt 1!, HUH PAOfi TMRKU

THE JUNIOR

! tin i(r Palladium is the Palladium -wind May . MUG. I to b: All boys and Kit's are n items, social events, ' want" advci original poems are accptablc and

lie written plainly and on one side of the paper, with the author's name and age signed. Aunt Polly is always Kind to ni-ot the children personally as they bring their arliHes to The Palladium office, or to re ceie letters addressed to the Junior Kditor. This is your little newspaper and we hope each boy and girl will asp it thoroughly.

Sea Lions Taueht

To Catch "Subs"uh 'linner.

(Philadelphia Record) Mow Could the Huns expect to win i In- war when even the animals of I h deep could he trained to make war on lliem" While nothing thereof has been known by the world at large up to this time, it appears now, from information thai tin British govct ntneiit has just permitted to get out, that the P.ritnns trained sea lion.-s to locale Genua n submarine. Anions; the many methods devel oped for lighting the C-boats this would seem to take the prize for' novelty. Incidentally, in connection' with their training, many interest j ins facts regarding their ways, and; particularly the high order of in- j telligence id these animals have j come to light. It seems strange thiit a creature living a consider-! able part of its life in the water, and beinr to all intents and pur poses a sea animal, should be possessed of brain development sur passing that of except the dog However, such anv olhei a nimal. and the elephant appears to be the case. Strange Methods Tried It was in the smuttier of UH7, when ruthless submarine warfare was making terrible inroads into allied shipping. Established methods of naval warfare inadequate and many of coping witli the tried. Two sea lions Were trained i first as an experiment proposed was to teach swim -after a submarine, trailing a long line with a red float attached, which would serve as a signal to the British sailors engaged to hasten lo the spot and drop a depth bomb where it could wipe the German undersea pirate out of existence. First of all. (he sea lions learned; to locate a noise made with a buz-i zer resembling the sound of a sub-j marine's propellers. The sea lions; were kept on the deck of a British submarine and the buzzer sounded under water at various places. The animals, out of curiosity, sometimes swam after the sound, and when Ihey did so Hie received a; liberal feed of fish as a reward. : Thus the intelligent beasts' soon learned it was a wise thing to swim after an buzzing noise under water, i As a more advanced step they were taught to swim after a noise made by a buzzer and propeller j combined. Next they were taught: to carry the float, an incumbrance that would make almost any other animal fight angrily. A collar was i put on each sea lion's neck, with a long, light line of gut attached to it. At one end of the line was a light, cigar-shaped float, painted red. In this manner the animal's whereabouts couid be ascertained as he towed it along with him on the top of the water These stages of the sea lion's ed ucation were carried out in Ports-; mouth harbor. The animals were! then taken out to sea for more ser ious work. They were now fitted, with wire muzzles, so that they' might not be tempted to go on fishing expeditions of their own instead of chasing submarines. In the muzzle was a little trapdoor, which could be lifted "up easily, so that the sea lion could be led at any time without removing the entire contrivance. A Critical Step. Out at sea the sea lions first learned to follow a submarine on the surface. Then came the very important and critical step of teaching them to follow a diving submarine. One danger here was that the sea lion would get tangled up in the propellers of the British submarine that was training him and wreck the boat. The sea lion could easily outpwim the submarine. To avert this danger of an accident a man on the patrol boat signalled to the captain of the submarine, who was watching through his periscope, when the seal was near. The submarine commander then slopped his craft and came to the surface. When the captain stepped out of his conning tower he always

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PALLADIUM

cliil lien's section of the Richmond an. I issued eat li atunliiy ;ift errioon reporters and contributors. News hloties, local jokes arid llrrm will be published. 1 "i.: should found a sea lion on de a flintier luirlimi' I;. lifting up loudly for a II bout delay the anim.il.-. were employed in chasing real enemy submarines, and it is stated that (hey were responsible for I he cap ture or destruction of a number. While the sthenic had not been developed to a point where enough of the animals v. ere provided lu brine about any big results, there is little doubt that eventually it would have proved a valuable aid in rid ding the sea of the pirate I' boat. Can Be Taught More Than Dog According to the trainer of the performing sea lions in one of the largest circuses in this country, and who probably knows more about these animals than anv other man in 1he world, the sea lion can be taught more things Mian any other animal, not excepting the ! dog. There is scarcely any work j these beasts can no! be trained to do. When it is realized lhat they I can do juggling tricks impossible ! for men. an idea can be formed of now inany other things they can i do. The California sea lion is the most adaptable for training purposes and is more intelligent than the fur seal of the Arctic regions. The huge sea lions from South America are too dangerous to be handled easilv. When two or three

wen1 proving i years ot age the California sea strange ways',ions aro at their best age for trainterror were 'inff Taken out of the water before , il. , ni,.:il..

"ai nine uie.v aie in" Minn leui ly

The plan,own to understand what is rethem to Quired of (hem.

First Obstacle to Overcome. : The first obstacle to be overcome ': is the unwillingness of the newly ; captured sea lion to take food. ; Like most animals of his type, he ecretes a great layer of fat, called

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WITH A HEARTLESS FLIRT MM!M3&r ' r&WjMW -jf I WHEN HIS BEST GIRL m - pW -nushne fi QMVE HIM THE "f1ITTEN'. " :J0 -gf j f

blubber, oil his body, upon which he feeds when nol able to obtain other lood. Sea lions have been known to refu.se food for nearly two months belore allowing themselves to be approai lied. Fish was offered them regularly, but the animals refused it. One id the wa.ol tempting their appetites is to i , , - ''-li with a string tied (osS Them . .. ,. " 1 1 Lit to its tail. A sligTn p-iii . string give,-, the fish the appearance of life, and I he sea lion, afier some hesitation, will eventually take it.

Once he ha begun In take food I regularly he is at the stage where I training can be started. When (first taken out of the cage he is likely to snap al the trainer, par- , ticularly if the latter lays hands on him. Trainers guard against this ! by wearing a long, heavy pair of gauntlets, which the sea lion can nol pierce with his teeth. From this slage on the animal is taken from his cage three or four Mimes a day for short periods. Me is started in his training with a i large ball. It is tossed at him a ! great many times, at first hitting him on the nose and then rolling jtiway. After awhile the wonderful I flexibility of his neck asserts itself 'and he makes an effort to hold the ball on his nos". I His attention can not be held i very long on any one trick. A total 'training period of twenty minutes at a time is as much as he will do. After tllit he begins lo lag, and any furrier work is (iresonie and injurious to his general training. The repeated use of words in connection with his instruction eventually fastens them in his mind, and in climbing the ladder, for instance, he readily goes up or down at the sound of these words, once they are impressed on him. They tire given names, and will answer them just as a dog will. . The hope of a reward for his performance is the foremost thing in his mind. Accomplishing a trick ; fairly well, obtains a few fish but a ; thorough performance brings a larger feed. lie is actuated only by the thoughts of the fish. ;iud, after once having learned a trick to the satisfaction of the trainer, he can he counted on to do his best every time he is asked if the necessary reward is forthcoming. Strong in Likes and Dislike: The sea lion is very strong in his

"THOSE WERE THE DAYS!"

bkes and dislikes His opinions are quickly lotuied, and his di.-dike of a trainer will be more appaienl to the outsider than to the trainer himself. Among the tricks that have been taught performing sea lions that of balancing and tossing a hall wit!, their noses is usually first Alter

that they learn to juggle one ball , ell their heads for a short peiiod, , " tilt air and prepare to loss It ... . , . .i .k i n " tssed to catch another ball in them. In another trick one tratn-r-has been able, by using food as , ' bail, to teach the sea lion to climb a ladder while juggling on the end of his nose a billiard cue, on which i is balanced a small ball. Fpon reaching the top of the ladder, with ;i flip of his head he throws the bil- j Hard i ue aside, and catches the ball 1 as it comes down, and balances it ; on his nose. Still holding it in place, he makes his way down the ; ladder to the floor, wh re he tosses the ball to the trainer. Then there is the performance of the five animals of a fatuous trainer, which constitutes what the latter calls his orchestra. Three blow horns, a fourth plays cymbals attached to his flippers, while the fifth makes the bass drum resound through the arena with reverbera Hons which no human player wsnhl dare to provoke. The sound of the drum produced through his own efforts evidently appeals to the animal, and he seems to fake a great pleasure in it. In a class by itself, however, in the world of performing animals, is the hell solo performed by this trainer's star sea lion musician. A series of buttons rigged up to bells present somewhat the appearance of the manual of a piano. In this number the sea lion actually picks out the notes of a musical piece, nodding his head when he' presses the right one, and growling softly to himself if he by any chance plays the wrong note. lie really seems pleased at his capability, and instinctively knows when he is not giving the proper performance. SAYING SOMETHING. First Scout -"The Scoutmaster gave a long speech at the meeting last night. Second Scout What was he talking about?" First Scout--"He didn't

Even Elephants Must Be Spanked In a recent exchange it is stated lhat elephants are amazingly tike human beings in the way they discipline their young. In proof, it fell;; an amusing incident seen by a French traveler in an extensive lumber yard in Iiurnia. While the adult elephant were ramfu"r "! olL the youngsters played about the yard. cle" pliant that attracted the traveler's particular attention was hauling, in her chain harness, huge tree trunks from the bank of the river. She had a heavy load, a fact that her offspring did not realize. Bent on playing a prank, he wound his litelt trunk about one of the chain traces and pulled back with all of

his strength. Conscious of the suddenly increased weight, the mother stopped and looked around. She saw the youngster back there, and shoot her head solemnly, but paying no further heed to his teasing, bent again to her work. Meanwhile, however, the little rascal with his mischievous trunk, had loosened the ring that fastened the traces to the load. While the mother was straii.ing to set her burden in motion again, her rascally son pulled with all of his might against her, and pulled so sturdily that she was quite un aware that she had been disconnected from her load. Then, sud denly. the youngster let go. Naturally enough, the mother was thrown to her knees, and her driver hurled in a wide circle from her back. The culprit sought a huge wood pile that seemed to offer at least it temporary protection. His mother, however, was soon in pursuit, and he had to flee. Round and round the wood-pile he dodged, but his mother, with her iron harness, clanging noisily behind her, kept close at his heels. Although the little one's greater "m) gaineu some space lor him at the corners, his mother eventu ally overtook him. The first blow of her trunk drew from him a bawl of pain. At the second he sank, quite humbled, to his knees; and then he endured without a murmur, although with many tears, a sound thrashing. Finally the mother let him up. With tears still streaming and with drooping trunk, he took his disconsolate way out of the yard. The little fellow had won the complete sympathy of the observer. Consequently, he was overjoyed to witness during the noon hour a touching reconciliation. The mother did all she could to comfort the penitent little sinner; she caressed him with her trunk, cuddled him up against her and looked at him as if to say, "You won't do it again, will you?" The thigh bone of a lizard, measuring 6 feet 10 inches in length, and weighing HOO pounds has been found in western Colorado. A lizard having such a large thigh bone must have been over eighty feet long and twenty-five feet high, larger than a house. This gigantic monster existed thousands of years ago and was a vegetarian, living on grass and tree ferns. EXCHANGE COLUMN Open to All Boyi and Girls. These Adt Cost Y&u Nothing; Send In Your "Wants" to The J Palladium Junior. WANTED Boys to join the Lone Scouts of America. Application free. Inquire, 1215 South C st FOUND A girl's bicycle in an alley near North G street. Call Junior Palladium office. LOST -Fountain pen. with "Compliments Dayton Supply Company" on it, between Garfield school and Tenth street park. found, phone 2500 or call at IiOJ South Fight h street. FOR SALF--A pair of roller skates, a bicycle, fountain pen. and watch. Call 513 South NinUi street. FOR RAMS-- Rabbits. 205 Pearl street. Call at