1. PINNIPEDS

2. General characteristics:
Phylum Chordata
Class Mammalia
Order Carnivora
Suborder Pinnipedia (means fin footed)
ex: seals, sea lions, and walrus (33 species)
NOAA
General characteristics:
- are excellent swimmers
have thick layers of blubber to protect from the cold
- make a barking sound
- nostrils positioned on the snout and can close for diving

3. The largest Pinniped is the Elephant Seal at 8,000 pounds.
Elephant Seals at
San Simeon, CA

4. Pinnipeds are broken up into 3 groups.

5. NOAA
1. Otariidae are eared seals that include sea lions and fur seals. They can rotate both pectoral and pelvic fins to “walk” on land. They are very social and males have huge harems of up to 100 females, which they fight to control.

6. In the water, they are excellent swimmers.
2. Phocidae are true seals that have no visible ear flap. Their front legs do not rotate and will not support their weight.
Because they must drag their back fins on land, seals are easy prey for polar bears, killer whales, sharks and man.
In the water, they are excellent swimmers.
Harp Seal or White Coat will turn a darker color by 1 year old.

7. Year
Harp Seals
Grey Seals
2015
35,000
1,145
2014
60,000 82
2013
98,000
111
2012
71,000 8
2011
38,000
195
2010
69,000 7
2009
77,000
N/A
2008
218,000
2007
225,000
2006
355,000
2005
324,000
2004
366,000
2003
290,000
2002
312,000
The Canadian Government sponsors a seal hunting season where animals as young as 2 weeks old can be killed.

8. 3. Odobenidae - Walruses are found only in the North Polar regions.
NOAA
3. Odobenidae - Walruses are found only in the North Polar
regions.
They use their tusks to hoist them onto the ice and to dig for clams. They can dive to 300 ft.
Walrus nearly became extinct because of humans hunting the walrus for their ivory tusks.
They use their whiskers, also called vibrissae, to detect movement of marine invertebrates on the ocean floor to eat.

9. The Pinnipeds diet is mainly krill, crustaceans, mollusks, fish, and squid. Leopard Seals will eat penguins.

10. All frequently haul-out to rest, sun, molt, breed and raise young.

11. Most Pinnipeds (except the walrus) are covered with dense, waterproof fur that was attractive to man. Since the Marine Mammals Protection Act of 1972, hunting is illegal.
NOAA
As a result, sharks have also experienced an increase in population because its food source is readily available.

12. The otter is the smallest marine mammal
The otter is the smallest marine mammal. It is not a Pinniped, because it has four functioning limbs.
Otters have a very high metabolic rate and quickly die of hypothermia when their fur is damaged. They have no blubber.
Family: Mustelidae
Nearly 90% of the worlds’ otter population lived in the coastal waters from Prince William Sound to the Aleutian Islands.

13. More than 1,500 otters were killed by the Exxon tanker, Valdez , oil spill.
Only a few hundred otters were saved. Dozens of orphaned otters were sent to zoos and aquaria.
Otter pups can’t swim so they float or rest on the mother’s stomach. Males and females only socialize for a few days a year to mate.

14. Otters use tools such as rocks to break open abalone.
Fishermen sometimes shoot otters because their large appetites make them a competitor for abalone and fish.
Declining abalone population is probably more often the result of over fishing and the destruction of habitat.
Otters actually help control the sea urchin population, who are destroying the kelp beds where the abalone live.