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Pinniped Life History

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Encyclopedia of Animal Cognition and Behavior

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The term pinniped comes from the Latin pinna for “fin” or “feather,” and pedis for “footed.” The taxonomic grouping Pinnipedia is not its own order, but rather is classified within the order Carnivora and consists of three families of marine mammals: Phocidae which are the true seals (i.e., earless seals), Otariidae, the sea lions and fur seals (i.e., eared seals), and Odobenidae, the walrus. Otariids are most easily distinguished by their external ear or pinnae, their large fore-flippers, and the ability to rotate their pelvis on land and walk quadrupedally. Phocids are distinguished by a lack of pinnae, their short, fur covered fore-flippers which have pronounced claws, and their inability to rotate their pelvis to walk quadrupedally on land. Odobenids are easily recognized by their general lack of fur and their pronounced tusks present on both the male and female walrus. Like the Otariids, they can walk quadrupedally on land (see Fig. 1). Taken together there are 33 extant species...

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for the Study of Pinniped Ecology and Cognition (C-SPEC), St. Francis College, Brooklyn Heights, NY, USA

    Kristy L. Biolsi

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  1. Kristy L. Biolsi
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Correspondence to Kristy L. Biolsi .

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  1. Oakland University , Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Jennifer Vonk

  2. Department of Psychology, Oakland University Department of Psychology, Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Todd Shackelford

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  1. Department of Psychology, Eckerd College, St. Petersburg, FL, USA

    Lauren Highfill

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Biolsi, K.L. (2017). Pinniped Life History. In: Vonk, J., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Animal Cognition and Behavior. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47829-6_942-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47829-6_942-1

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