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Winged foot
Pinnipeds, which means winged foot, are large marine mammals adapted to aquatic lifestyle. There are three families: Odobenidae (walruses), Otariidae (sea lions and fur seals), and Phocidae (true seals). All pinnipeds are carnivorous. Their teeth are not used for chewing but to help catching and holding on the prey. Like other marine mammals, pinnipeds swallow fish whole. Photo ©Matt L.

Difference between eared seals and true seals
Pinnipeds include the walruses, the true seals and the eared seals. Everyone should know what a walrus looks like, but some people have a difficult time telling the difference between true seals and eared seals. Just look at the sides of their heads. If they have external earflaps, then they are eared seals. Eared seals also have long front flippers which they use to push themselves through the water, just like we do when we go swimming. Their hind flippers are used for steer in the water, but they can also rotate underneath their body, so they can walk on all fours. This makes them extremely mobile on land. True seals, on the other hand, have much shorter front flippers and their hind flippers do not rotate under them, so when they walk onland, they crawl.

Odobenidae
Walruses are the the sole surviving members of the once diverse and widespread Odobenidae family. They can can be easily recognized by their long tusks and they share the ability of rotating their hind flippers and long front flippers with Otariidae (eared seals). Unlike the eared seals, however, they lack external earflaps. Like other pinniped species, walruses vocalize to announce their territory, and they are also known as the "loudest voice of the Arctic." Vocalization also helps to identify each other in case of a lost calf, will locate its mother.

Otariidae
Sea lions and fur seals are very social animals and can often be found in groups called rookeries, and rookeries can be pretty noisy places. In the water, sea lions are fast and agile. Their flexible necks are great adapations for catching the fast-moving fish that makes up their diet. All of these features make sea lions great predators.

Phocidae
True seals, like harbor seals are the most diverse and widespread of the pinnipeds. They lack external ears and more streamlined which makes them more aquatically adapted. Their hind flippers may not be that much used to them on land, but they are in the water. They use them in a side-to-side motion called sculling. Sculling might looks just a little bit silly to you and me, but it is an adaptation that works well for their ancestors, and that is a nature's design.