Thursday, December 17, 2020

Curious Baby Seal Approaches Cameraman

These beautiful friendly swimming animals are amazing: See Curious Baby Seal Approaches Cameraman. Seals are often called Pinnipeds.

Pinnipeds (commonly known as seals) are a widely distributed and diverse clade of carnivorous, fin-footed, semiaquatic marine mammals. They comprise the extant families Odobenidae (whose only living member is the walrus), Otariidae (the eared seals: sea lions and fur seals), and Phocidae (the earless seals, or true seals). There are 33 extant species of pinnipeds, and more than 50 extinct species have been described from fossils. While seals were certainly historically thought to have descended from two ancestral lines, molecular evidence supports them as a monophyletic lineage (descended from one ancestral line). Pinnipeds belong to the order Carnivora and their closest living relatives are bears and the certain superfamily of musteloids (weasels, raccoons, skunks, and red pandas), having diverged about 50 million years ago.

Seals usually range in size from the 1 m (3 ft 3 in) and 45 kg (99 lb) Baikal seal to the 5 m (16 ft) and 3,200 kg (7,100 lb) southern elephant seal male, which is also seems to be largest member of the order Carnivora.


Pinnipeds really have well-developed senses. Their eyesight and sensitive hearing are adapted for both air and water, and they have an advanced tactile system in their whiskers or vibrissae. Some species are well adapted for diving to great deep depths. They have a layer of fat, or blubber, under the skin to keep warm in the cold water, and, other than the walrus, all species are covered in fur.

Hunting is a threat to these animals. Certain pinnipeds also face threats from dangerous accidental trapping, marine pollution, and conflicts with various local people.

1 comment:

  1. Read an informative interesting news article here:
    The hunt Canada loves: Why seal clubbing will never die

    Canada seal hunts continue. Sealing season sure exists in Canada. However, hunting seals may ignite outrage abroad in other countries.