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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 ().
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.
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.
Fur seals and sea lions are closely related and commonly known together as the "eared seals". Until recently, fur seals were all grouped under a single subfamily of Pinnipedia, called the Arctocephalinae, to contrast them with Otariinae – the sea lions – based on the most prominent common feature, namely the coat of dense underfur ...
Sea lions are pinnipeds characterized by external ear flaps, long foreflippers, the ability to walk on all fours, short and thick hair, and a big chest and belly. Together with the fur seals, they make up the family Otariidae, eared seals. The sea lions have six extant and one extinct species (the Japanese sea lion) in five genera.
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.
The earless seals, phocids, or true seals are one of the three main groups of mammals within the seal lineage, Pinnipedia. All true seals are members of the family Phocidae (/ ˈ f oʊ s ɪ d iː /). They are sometimes called crawling seals to distinguish them from the fur seals and sea lions of the family Otariidae.
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]