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- Seals have shorter limbs than most other mammals. Their limbs have evolved into flippers with true seals having more developed hind flippers and eared seals having more developed fore flippers.
animalcorner.org/seal-anatomy/Seal Anatomy - Diagram & Pictures Of Seal Body - Animal Corner
- Size
- Coloration
- Foreflippers
- Hind Flippers
- Head
- Hair
Males reach about 1.4 to 2.0 m (4.6-6.6 ft.) and 70 to 170 kg (154-375 lb.).Females reach about 1.2 to 1.7 m (3.9-5.6 ft.) and 50 to 150 kg (110-331 lb.).Harbor seals range in color from light gray to silver with dark spots. Some are black or dark gray to brown with white rings. Spots or rings are numerous on the dorsal (back) surface and more sparse on the ventral (underside) surface. In some areas, such as San Francisco Bay, a number of harbor seals have a red or rust coloration from iron oxide de...
Limbs are modified into flippers. The foreflippers, or pectoral flippers, have all the major skeletal elements of the forelimbs of land mammals, but they are foreshortened and modified.A harbor seal's flippers are short and webbed. Each foreflipper has five digits of about equal length.The foreflippers have noticeable claws. The claws are blunt and measure about 2.5 to 5 cm (1-2 in.). Harbor seals use their claws for scratching, grooming, and defense.Foreflippers are covered with hair.Like land mammals, seals have five bony digits in the hind, or pelvic, limbs. The first and fifth digits are long and stout; the middle digits are shorter and thinner.Digits of the hind flippers are webbed. When a harbor seal spreads its hind flippers, the flippers look like wide fans.Like the foreflippers, the hind flippers have claws and are covered with hair.Harbor seals move their hind flippers side-to-side to propel themselves in water. The hind flippers also function as a rudder.A harbor seal has a rounded head with a fairly blunt snout.A harbor seal lacks external ear flaps. Its ear openings close when it dives.Harbor seals have 34 to 36 teeth. The front teeth are pointed and sharp, adapted for grasping and tearing (not chewing) their food. Harbor seals often use their back teeth for crushing shells and c...Vibrissae (whiskers) grow from the thick pads of a seal's upper lip and cheeks. Vibrissae are attached to muscles and are supplied with blood and nerves. Vibrissae continually grow throughout a sea...Harbor seals have thick, short hair. The coat is made of coarse guard hairs and finer, but denser underhairs. Each guard hair has three to six underhair fibers attached to the root.The density of a harbor seal's hair increases with age.Glands in the skin secrete oil which helps waterproof the hair.The hair provides no insulation for the harbor seal.Sep 26, 2024 · The upper portions of seals’ limbs are within the body, but the long feet and digits remain, having evolved into flippers. Seals possess a thick layer of fat (blubber) below the skin, which provides insulation, acts as a food reserve, and contributes to buoyancy.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Their limbs are short and their feet are long and webbed, forming flippers. The sea lions and fur seals (family Otariidae) and the walrus (family Odobenidae) are able to turn their hind flippers forward for walking on land; they swim chiefly by a rowing action of the long front flippers.
Feb 7, 2006 · Seal is a common name given to a diverse group of aquatic, generally marine mammals of the order Pinnipedia. There are two distinctive groups: eared and earless. All have streamlined bodies, limbs developed into flippers, eyes adapted for vision both in and out of the water and valved nostrils.
They are very streamlined in shape (“torpedoes”), with no obvious neck, no external ears or genitalia, hidden teats and reduced limbs (“flippers”) and tail. This helps to reduce drag in the water (which is 800 times denser than air). The streamlining is enhanced by the layer of blubber rounding off all bony protuberances. Propulsion.
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Their limbs have evolved into flippers. The front flippers are short and have claws, while the hind flippers are longer and more paddle-like. They cannot rotate their hind flippers underneath their bodies, so they move on land by wriggling their bodies in a caterpillar-like motion.
