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ephant "runk on a Seal? Page 6

Nostrils That L!an5nap Shut Page 5

, sea lions, and walruses live in two different worlds. They spend part of their lives on land and part of their lives in water. On land, they may look clumsy. In the water, they swim with a speed and grace that is wonderful to watch. In fact, many species swim so well that they seem to fly underwater. To help them fly through the water, these animals have flippers instead of arms and legs. The flippers look like flns, or "wings," and this is why seals, sea lions, and walruses are all called pinnipeds, which means "wing-footed." , In general, pinnipeds have streamlined, cigarshaped bodies that slip through the water easily. Strong muscles propel their bodies, and this helps to make these animals very good swimmers. Some pinnipeds swim long distances, and some dive deep to flnd food. Pinnipeds are marine mammals. Like people and other land mammals, pinnipeds have lungs and must breathe air to stay alive. Like you and me, they are warm-blooded, with a body temperature that must be kept at a certain level all the time. Their babies are born alive like human babies, and the babies get milk from their mothers. Like many land mammals, pinnipeds have hair that covers their bodies. Most pinnipeds live in cold places. For instance, many seals and walruses are found close to the North Pole. There are also seals in waters near the South Pole. In such places, seals often spend a long time swimming under huge blocks of ice looking for food. Many people think of snow and ice when they think of seals and other pinnipeds. But there are seals and sea lions that live in warm places as well. There are sea lions in California, and seals in Hawaii and the Mediterranean Sea. Adult male pinnipeds are called bulls. Adult females are called cows. Baby seals are called pups until they are about flve months old, and then they are called yearlings A young walrus is called a calf.
SKA LIONS

here is more variety among pinnipeds than you might expect. All of their bodies are the same general shapebut the shapes of their heads and the patterns of fur on their bodies can be very different. There is also a great variety of sizes. The biggest of all is the elephant seal. Males of this species can be more than 16 feet long and weigh over 5,000 pounds.

SouTHEi<N S E A LION

Otaria byronia

IL\RP SKAI, AND Pi'i

Phuca groenlandica

BEARDED SEAI,

Erignathus barbatus

W E D D E U . SE.'U,

Leptonychotes weddellii

CK.-\ni..\II.K Sh.-M. lj>bodii>i carcinophaga

N(ji(THEia-i EL;PHANT SEAL

Mirounga angustirostris
S o u j'HiiRN ELEPHANT SEAI, HOODED SEAL

Mirounga leonina

Cystopkora cristata

KiN(;i;i) SEAL

ocii hispida

Hydrurga leptonyx

STEU.ER'S SEA LION

Eumetupius jubattis

RIBBON SEAL

'^

Histriophoca fasciata

\ '

MlDITERRANEAN MoNK SEAL Monachus monachus

CAI.IFORNL/V SEA LION

Zttliiphus califiirniatiiis

he bodies of all pinnipeds do look much the same atfirstglance. All of them have long and rather streamlined bodies, shaped like fat submarines. They all have four flippers one pair in front and one pair in the back. Almost all pinnipeds are covered with fur. They have long hairs on their faces that look like cat whiskers. With so many things that are similar you may think that it's going to be very hard for you to tell one kind of pinniped from another. But there are differences between them that are going to make it easy for you to tell one from anotherand in only a few seconds! The easiest pinniped to recognize is the walrus. For one thing, it is bigger than any other pinniped except the elephant seal. And walruses are the only pinnipeds that have long tusks. You'll learn more about walruses later. On these two pages, you can learn how to tell a seal from a sea lion or a fur seal.

When you see a pinniped, look at its head. Does it have ears? Sea lions and fur seals have tiny ear flaps, but true seals do not. For this reason, seal lions and fur seals are sometimes called "eared seals." Can you tell which of these two animals is a true seal and which is a sea lion?

WALRUS

When sea lions and fur seals swim, they use their front flippers to push them through the water. Their rear flippers are used to help steer them, like the rudder on a boat.

True seals use their rear flippers to push them when they swim. The front flippers are used for steering.

SEA LION

True seals can't use their rear flippers as feet. This makes them rather clumsy when they move around on land. vSome species use their front flippers to pull them forward. Others hunch their bodies and move like inchworms. In spite of this, some types of seals may travel many miles on land. Some of them can even move fast. Crabeater seals are the fastest on land and can speed across snow as fast as 15 miles per hour.

Sea lions and fur seals can use both pairs of their flippers to walk on land. They bring the rear flippers forward and use them as feet. This lets them move fairly well on land, but they are much more graceful in the water.
TRUE SEAI.

Because you live on land, the natural position for your nostrils is open. But pinnipeds spend a great deal of time underwater, so the natural position for their nostrils is closed. They have special muscles that can open the nostrils when they want to breathe. The moment they relax these muscles, the nostrils snap shut. All pinnipeds can open and close their noses. When they stick their heads out of the water or come up on land, they can open their nostrils to breathe (J). But when they dive, the nostrils close to keep water out .

One reason why many pinnipeds look like chubby cigars is that they have a thick layer of fat under the skin. This fat helps to keep them warm when they swim in cold water or lie on snow and ice.

Bl.UBBKR

The fat under the skin is called hlubber. Walruses have more blubber than any other pinniped, and this is one reason why they are so big. The fat on a large walrus can be six inches thick in places. The fat alone can weigh over 900 pounds!

rue seals are the largest group of pinnipeds, with more different kinds than any other group. As you can see on the map at right, they also live in more places than any other pinnipeds. No matter where they live, true seals stay alive by eating fish and other sea creatures. Like all pinnipeds, they are excellent hunters. They usually have no trouble catching all the smaller animals they can eat. In turn, seals and other pinnipeds are sometimes caught by animals that are larger than they are such as killer whales.

Places where seals live are shown in vellow.

ul As a rule, male seals are larger than females. Can you find the male elephant seal in this picture? At mating time, the males of some speciesfightwith each other. The males that win the most fights get the most females as mates.

U's easy to see how the elephant s its name. The "trunks" on some large males can be more than 11 inches long. Sometimes, when the males get really angry, they may blow up their "trunks" like big balloons.

Killer whales have a clever way of capturing seals that are resting on ice floes. One whale pushes up the side of the ice (shown at left). The seal tumbles offand lands in the open mouth of a second whale.

In general, seals and other pinnipeds live in certain places because they can find plenty of food there. Pinnipeds are near the top of the "food chain" in the ocean. This chain begins with very sprll animals and plants (J).

Near the top of the chain, fish that have been eating smaller animals are eaten in turn by pinnipeds

onte foods of seals are squid and medium-sized fish.

The smallest animals and plants^ji^eaten by slighdy larger animals (2). Tbee are eate by still larger animals.

life in the ocean can be dangerous for seals and other pinnipeds. In cold waters, killer whales hunt them. In warmer waters, they are preyed upon by sharks.

To find food, a seal in cold waters may have to swim around under the ice for a long time. Some seals can hold their breath for almost an hour. Eventually, they have to find a hole in the ice so they can get some air.

Most pinnipeds have large eyes. Their eyes are adapted to low light. Light reflects through their eyes a second time. They see well deep in the ocean and out of the water.

Seals that use breathing boles usually have several of them. When ice forms over the holes, the seals dig it out with their teeth and claws. Sometimes they melt the new ice with their warm breath. Polar bears and Inuitsthe people of the far northoften hunt seals by waiting at breathing holes. When the seals come to breathe, the hunters catch them.

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