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Otariid
An eared seal, otariid, or otary is any member of the marine mammal family Otariidae, one of three groupings of pinnipeds. They comprise 15 extant species in seven genera (another species became extinct in the 1950s) and are commonly known either as sea lions or fur seals, distinct from true seals (phocids) and the walrus ( odobenids). Otariids are adapted to a semiaquatic lifestyle, feeding and migrating in the water, but breeding and resting on land or ice. They reside in subpolar, temperate, and equatorial waters throughout the Pacific and Southern Oceans, the southern Indian, and Atlantic Oceans. They are conspicuously absent in the north Atlantic. The words "otariid" and "otary" come from the Greek ' meaning "little ear", referring to the small but visible external ear flaps ( pinnae), which distinguishes them from the phocids. Evolution and taxonomy Morphological and molecular evidence supports a monophyletic origin of pinnipeds, sharing a common ancestor with Mustelo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pinnipeds
Pinnipeds (pronounced ), commonly known as seals, are a widely distributed and diverse clade of carnivorous, fin-footed, semiaquatic, mostly 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), with 34 extant species and more than 50 extinct species described from fossils. While seals were historically thought to have descended from two ancestral lines, molecular evidence supports them as a monophyletic group (descended from one ancestor). Pinnipeds belong to the suborder Caniformia of the order Carnivora; their closest living relatives are musteloids ( weasels, raccoons, skunks and red pandas), having diverged about 50 million years ago. Seals range in size from the and Baikal seal to the and southern elephant seal. Several species exhibit sexual dimorphism. They have streamlined bodies and four limbs t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eumetopias
The Steller sea lion (''Eumetopias jubatus''), also known as Steller's sea lion or the northern sea lion, is a large, near-threatened species of sea lion, predominantly found in the coastal marine habitats of the northeast Pacific Ocean and the Pacific Northwest regions of North America, from north-central California to Oregon, Washington and British Columbia to Alaska. Its range continues across the Northern Pacific and the Aleutian Islands, all the way to Kamchatka, Magadan Oblast, and the Sea of Okhotsk, south to Honshu's northern coastline. It is the sole member of the genus ''Eumetopias'', and the largest of the so-called eared seals (Otariidae). Among pinnipeds, only the walrus and the two species of elephant seal are bigger. The species is named for the naturalist and explorer Georg Wilhelm Steller, who first described them in 1741. Steller sea lions have attracted considerable attention in recent decades, both from scientists and the general public, due to significant ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sea Lion
Sea lions are pinnipeds characterized by external ear flaps, long foreflippers, the ability to walk on all fours, short and thick hair, and a big chest and belly. Together with the fur seals, they make up the family Otariidae, eared seals. The sea lions have six extant and one extinct species (the Japanese sea lion) in five genera. Their range extends from the subarctic to tropical waters of the global ocean in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, with the notable exception of the northern Atlantic Ocean. Sea lions have an average lifespan of 20–30 years. A male California sea lion weighs on average about and is about long, while the female sea lion weighs and is long. The largest sea lions are Steller's sea lions, which can weigh and grow to a length of . Sea lions consume large quantities of food at a time and are known to eat about 5–8% of their body weight (about ) at a single feeding. Sea lions can move around in water and at their fastest they ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Walrus
The walrus (''Odobenus rosmarus'') is a large pinniped marine mammal with discontinuous distribution about the North Pole in the Arctic Ocean and subarctic seas of the Northern Hemisphere. It is the only extant species in the family Odobenidae and genus ''Odobenus''. This species is subdivided into two subspecies: the Atlantic walrus (''O. r. rosmarus''), which lives in the Atlantic Ocean, and the Pacific walrus (''O. r. divergens''), which lives in the Pacific Ocean. Adult walrus are characterised by prominent tusks and whiskers, and considerable bulk: adult males in the Pacific can weigh more than and, among pinnipeds, are exceeded in size only by the two species of elephant seals. Walrus live mostly in shallow waters above the continental shelves, spending significant amounts of their lives on the sea ice looking for benthic bivalve molluscs. Walruses are relatively long-lived, social animals, and are considered to be a " keystone species" in the Arctic marine regio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Callorhinus
''Callorhinus'' is a genus of sea lion. It contains the living northern fur seal ''(Callorhinus ursinus)'' as well as the extinct '' Callorhinus gilmorei'' and an unnamed species, both from the Pliocene and very beginning of the Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin .... ''Callorhinus'' may be a sister genus to the extinct giant otariid, '' Thalassoleon''. References {{Authority control Carnivoran genera Mammal genera with one living species Eared seals Taxa named by John Edward Gray Mammals described in 1859 Biota of the Temperate Northern Pacific ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pithanotaria
''Pithanotaria'' is an extinct genus of otariid that lived in the North Pacific during the Miocene epoch. It is a monotypic genus that is known from the species ''Pithanotaria starri''. Palaeoecology ''Pithanotaria'' was a carnivore A carnivore , or meat-eater (Latin, ''caro'', genitive ''carnis'', meaning meat or "flesh" and ''vorare'' meaning "to devour"), is an animal or plant Plants are the eukaryotes that form the Kingdom (biology), kingdom Plantae; they ar ... that predominantly foraged in nearshore habitats. References Monotypic prehistoric mammal genera Eared seals Fossils of the United States Miocene United States Fossil taxa described in 1925 Taxa named by Remington Kellogg {{paleo-mammal-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fur Seal
Fur seals are any of nine species of pinnipeds belonging to the subfamily Arctocephalinae in the family Otariidae. They are much more closely related to sea lions than Earless seal, true seals, and share with them external ears (Pinna (anatomy), pinnae), relatively long and muscular foreflippers, and the ability to walk on all fours. They are marked by their dense pelage, underfur, which made them a long-time object of commercial Seal hunting, hunting. Eight species belong to the genus ''Arctocephalus'' and are found primarily in the Southern Hemisphere, while a ninth species also sometimes called fur seal, the Northern fur seal (''Callorhinus ursinus''), belongs to a different genus and inhabits the North Pacific. The fur seals in ''Arctocephalus'' are more closely related to sea lions than they are to the Northern fur seal, but all three groups are more closely related to one another than they are to true seals. Taxonomy Fur seals and sea lions make up the family Otariidae. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thalassoleon
''Thalassoleon'' ("sea lion" ) is an extinct genus of large fur seal. ''Thalassoleon'' inhabited the Northern Pacific Ocean in latest Miocene and early Pliocene. Fossils of ''T. mexicanus'' are known from Baja California and southern California. ''T. macnallyae'' is known from central California, and ''T. inouei'' (which may be a synonym of ''T. macnallyae'') is known from Japan. ''Thalassoleon'' could be the ancestor of the modern northern fur seal The northern fur seal (''Callorhinus ursinus'') is an eared seal found along the north Pacific Ocean, the Bering Sea, and the Sea of Okhotsk. It is the largest member of the fur seal subfamily (Arctocephalinae) and the only living species in the .... ''T. mexicanus'' was comparable in size to the largest modern fur seals, with an old-male skull length of 272 mm and an estimated minimal weight of 295–318 kg (650–700 lb). Holotype of ''T. macnallyae'', UCMP 112809, is a male equal in size to ''T. mexicanus''. Re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Miocene
The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recent" because it has 18% fewer modern marine invertebrates than the Pliocene has. The Miocene followed the Oligocene and preceded the Pliocene. As Earth went from the Oligocene through the Miocene and into the Pliocene, the climate slowly cooled towards a series of ice ages. The Miocene boundaries are not marked by distinct global events but by regionally defined transitions from the warmer Oligocene to the cooler Pliocene Epoch. During the Early Miocene, Afro-Arabia collided with Eurasia, severing the connection between the Mediterranean and Indian Oceans, and allowing the interchange of fauna between Eurasia and Africa, including the dispersal of proboscideans and Ape, hominoids into Eurasia. During the late Miocene, the conn ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Australian Sea Lion
The Australian sea lion (''Neophoca cinerea''), also known as the Australian sea-lion or Australian sealion, is a species of sea lion that is the only endemic pinniped in Australia. It is currently Monotypic taxon, monotypic in the genus ''Neophoca'', with the extinct Pleistocene New Zealand sea lion ''Neophoca palatina'' the only known congener. With a population estimated at 14,730 animals, the Wildlife Conservation Act of Western Australia (1950) has listed them as "in need of special protection". Their conservation status is listed as Endangered species, endangered. These pinnipeds are specifically known for their abnormal breeding cycles, which are varied between a 5-month breeding cycle and a 17-18 month aseasonal breeding cycle, compared to other pinnipeds, which fit into a 12-month reproductive cycle. Females are either silver or fawn with a cream underbelly, and males are dark brown with a yellow mane and are bigger than the females. Distribution Australian sea lions ar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Greek Language
Greek (, ; , ) is an Indo-European languages, Indo-European language, constituting an independent Hellenic languages, Hellenic branch within the Indo-European language family. It is native to Greece, Cyprus, Italy (in Calabria and Salento), southern Albania, and other regions of the Balkans, Caucasus, the Black Sea coast, Asia Minor, and the Eastern Mediterranean. It has the list of languages by first written accounts, longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning at least 3,400 years of written records. Its writing system is the Greek alphabet, which has been used for approximately 2,800 years; previously, Greek was recorded in writing systems such as Linear B and the Cypriot syllabary. The Greek language holds a very important place in the history of the Western world. Beginning with the epics of Homer, ancient Greek literature includes many works of lasting importance in the European canon. Greek is also the language in which many of the foundational texts ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atlantic
The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for separating the New World of the Americas (North America and South America) from the Old World of Afro-Eurasia (Africa, Asia, and Europe). Through its separation of Afro-Eurasia from the Americas, the Atlantic Ocean has played a central role in the development of human society, globalization, and the histories of many nations. While the Norse were the first known humans to cross the Atlantic, it was the expedition of Christopher Columbus in 1492 that proved to be the most consequential. Columbus's expedition ushered in an age of exploration and colonization of the Americas by European powers, most notably Portugal, Spain, France, and the United Kingdom. From the 16th to 19th centuries, the Atlantic Ocean was the center of both an eponymou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
