Pinniped Pinniped 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 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
Northcoast Marine Mammal Center is the Executive Director of the Northcoast Marine Mammal Center. Northcoast Marine Mammal Center The Northcoast Marine Mammal Center (NMMC) is a non-profit organization dedicated to the rescue and rehabilitation of stranded, sick or injured seals, sea lions, dolphins, porpoises and whales along the northernmost coast of California. The Northcoast Marine Mammal Center is funded by donations and grants and has a large volunteer force which allows it to accomplish its mission. The Northcoast Marine Mammal Center is located in Crescent City, California and has operations that cover a significant portion of the region. NMMC was founded in 1984 by