AI overview
Otariidae is a family of marine mammals that includes sea lions and fur seals, which are known for their ability to rotate their hind flippers forward to move on land. These animals are important to understand because they help scientists study marine ecosystems and the health of ocean environments.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Taxonomy · GBIF
FAMILY
- KingdomAnimalia
- PhylumChordata
- ClassMammalia
- OrderCarnivora
- FamilyOtariidae
via GBIF · CC0
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- taxon
- Subclass of
- seal
- Parent taxon
- Caniformia
- Image
- Neophoca cinerea.JPG
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Article
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 Ancient Greek ὠτάριον (ōtárion), meaning "little ear", referring to the small but visible external ear flaps (pinnae), which distinguishes them from the phocids.