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An eared seal, otariid, or otary is any member of the marine mammal family Otariidae, one of three groupings of pinnipeds. They comprise 15 extant species in seven genera (another species became extinct in the 1950s) and are commonly known either as sea lions or fur seals , distinct from true seals (phocids) and the walrus ( odobenids ).
Otariids are also known as eared seals due to their pinnae. These animals swim mainly using their well-developed fore-flippers. They can also "walk" on land by shifting their hind-flippers forward under the body. [12] The front end of an otariid's frontal bone protrudes between the nasal bones, with a large and flattened supraorbital foramen.
The 34 extant species of Pinnipedia are split into 22 genera within 3 families: Odobenidae, comprising the walrus; Otariidae, the eared seals, split between the sea lions and fur seals; and Phocidae, the earless or true seals.
Life restoration of Gomphotaria pugnax. Pinnipeds are marine mammals that evolved from arctoid carnivorans that includes seals, eared seals, and walruses.There are 34 recent species of pinnipeds [1] and 102 species of fossil pinnipeds and their stem-relatives (Pinnipedimorpha), collectively referred to as pinnipedimorphs. [2]
The South American sea lion is among the largest of and most sexually dimorphic of the eared seals. Males measure up to 3 m (9.8 ft) in length with a weight of 350 kg (770 lb) while females reach a length 2 m (6 ft 7 in) and reach 150 kg (330 lb) in weight.
Fur seals and sea lions are pinnipeds comprised in the taxonomic family Otariidae. Together, they are known as the "eared seals" or "otariids", and are distinguished from the " true seals " or "earless seals" in the family Phocidae.
Desmatophocidae is an extinct family of pinnipeds closely related to either the eared seals and walruses [1] or to the earless seals. [2] [3] These animals were the first group of large-bodied pinnipeds to evolve, first appearing in the Early Miocene, with no direct modern descendants. [4]
Otariids, also known as eared seals, differ from true seals in having external ear flaps, and proportionately larger foreflippers and pectoral muscles. Along with the Galapagos sea lion and the extinct Japanese sea lion , the California sea lion belongs to the genus Zalophus , which derives from the Greek words za , meaning "intensive", and ...