By: Ciera Kinley

Walruses, Seals, and Sea Lions are all known as Pinnipeds.

The word Pinnipedia translates from Latin as "feather or fin foot," referring to their often large fin-like flippers.

All Pinnipeds must come to shore to breed, give birth, and nurse their young.

Odobenus Rosmarus- Latin for tooth walking sea horse

Distinguished by long white tusks, grizzly whiskers, flat flippers, bodies full of blubber, and lack of external ears

Lifespan up to forty years Weight: males up to 2 tons; females up to

one ton Length: males up to 12 feet; females up

to 9 feet Protection Status: endangered

Walruses live in both Pacific and Atlantic Arctic ice pack areas.

Pacific Walruses mainly inhabit the Bering and Chukchi

seas. As the ice pack begins to loosen in April, they move northward up the Bering

Strait, and into the Chukchi sea.

Atlantic Walruses inhabit coastal areas of northeastern Canada and Greenland.

Huge tusks with several purposes: To haul themselves out of water

To break breathing holes in iceTo maintain territory

Protect females (part of their territory)

Whiskers which enable them to detect food, especially on the dark ocean floor

Capable of slowing heartbeat to withstand temperatures of surrounding water

The most common food for walruses is clams.

Other foods include snails, crabs, shrimp, and segmented worms.

Feeding areas: Located in relatively shallow waters Contain sediment of soft, fine sand

Currently, Walruses are under protection of the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service.

Alaskan Natives are now the only people allowed to hunt Walrus.

Otariidae includes the eared seals, also known as “walking seals” and “Otariids”. Also includes sea lions.

Members of Otariidae :Northern and Southern Fur Seals

Stellar Sea LionAustralian Sea Lion

South American Sea LionNew Zealand Sea Lion

California Sea Lion Reside in waters throughout the Pacific and

Southern Oceans and the southern Indian and Atlantic Oceans- absent in North Atlantic

All have fur; in Sea Lions coarse hair is dominant but in Seals, dense underfur is also present.

Fore flippers are paddle-like and more than a quarter of the length of their bodies.

Surface of flippers are leathery and claws are small Hind flippers are also large and can be rotated under

the body when it is on land, partially supporting the body and helping in locomotion.

Sleek bodies that move easily through water

Otariids are constantly active, day and night, swimming to the deepest parts of the ocean looking for food.

Live a semi-aquatic life, feeding and migrating in the water, and breeding and resting on land(or ice)

During breeding season, which happens annually for all but the Australian Sea Lion, the males first arrive at an area on land, and mark their territory.

All members of this family feed on fish, cephalopods, and crustaceans.

Sea Lions tend to feed closer to shore in upwelling zones feeding on larger fish

Fur Seals tend to take longer; offshore foraging trips an subsists on large numbers of smaller prey items

The World Conservation Union lists many Otariids as vulnerable due to parasites, predators, pollution, and entanglement.

The Stellar Sea Lion is listed as endangered, facing a high risk of extinction in the wild. This is due to extensive overfishing of Pollock, in addition to human pollution, tangling by fishing gear, and hunting by humans.

-Includes all earless seals, called “true seals”-Referred to as “crawling seals” to distinguish them

from eared seals

Hawaiian Monk Seal Spotted Seal Caribbean Monk Seal Ringed SealNorthern Elephant Seal Bearded Seal Southern Elephant Seal Hooded SealGray Seal Ross SealRibbon Seal Crab eater SealHarp Seal Leopard SealCaspian Seal Weddell SealBaikal Seal Australian SealCommon Seal

Live in oceans of both hemispheres and are confined to polar, sub-polar, and temperate climates.

More adapted to aquatic life than Otariids Fore flippers are used mainly for steering Hind flippers cannot rotate underneath them

to aid in movement- they must crawl on land wriggling their front flippers and abdominal muscles

Respiratory and circulatory systems well adapted for diving to considerable depths and spending a long time underwater between breaths

Although Otariids are known for speed and maneuverability, Phocids are known for efficient, economic movement.

Pregnant females spend a long time foraging to prepare for life at the breeding site.

Feed on fish, squid, octopus, shellfish, plankton, and some species feed on penguin and smaller seals

Social structures differ from species to species.

Three true seals are considered threatened due to habitat loss or degradation.

Caribbean and Hawaiian Monk Seals are endangered by the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service.

The World Conservation Union lists Mediterranean monk seals as critically endangered and the Caspian seal as vulnerable.

http://animals.nationalgeogrpahic.com/animals/mammals/walrus.html

http://library.thinkquest.org/3500walrus.htmlhttp://irs.ed.uluc.edu/students/downey/

project/seals.htmlhttp://alaska.fws.gov/fisheries/mmm/walrus/

nhistory.htmhttp://www.animalpicturesarchive./view.php?

tid=3&did=28736http://www.animalsrank.org/pages/3104/

truesealsphocidae.html