Pups or Pinnipeds (/ˈpɪnəˌpɛdz/), colloquially known as seals,are a widely distributed and diverse clade of fin-footed, semiaquaticmarine 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, 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 closest living relatives are bears and musteloids (weasels, raccoons andskunks).
Characters under this Bestiary[]
See Also[]
- Pup (Wikipedia)