Search results
Mar 20, 2024 · The ancestors and relatives of seals and sea lions, called pinnipeds, also took the plunge in the deep past. Paleontologists are still piecing together how otter-like creatures related to bears ...
- Riley Black
Apr 21, 2009 · Researchers have found a fossilized ancestor of modern seals and sea lions that they say represents an evolutionary step in the organisms' transition from land-dwelling mammals to the aquatic creatures they are today. The fossil skeleton is thought to be more than 20 million years old, making it the earliest fossil pinniped -- the taxonomic name for seals, sea lions and walruses -- yet ...
Apr 22, 2009 · Alex Tirabasso, Canadian Museum of Nature; (inset) Stefan Thompson. Scientists have found the first skeleton of a land-dwelling relative of seals, sea lions, and walruses. The 20-million- to 24-million-year-old Arctic fossil sports webbed feet instead of flippers, providing a long-sought glimpse of what such animals looked like before they dove ...
The earliest ancestors of seals and sea lions were mammals that transitioned from life on land to life at sea. Around 36 million years ago, at the end of the Oligocene, the ocean began to cool, which caused major changes to ocean circulation. This led to an increase in nutrients throughout the ocean and enabled ocean life to thrive.
The oldest definitive pinniped fossils date from approximately 30.6–23 million years ago (Ma) in the North Pacific. Pinniped monophyly is consistently supported; the group shares a common ancestry with arctoid carnivorans, either ursids or musteloids. Crown pinnipeds comprise the Otariidae (fur seals and sea lions), Odobenidae (walruses), and Phocidae (seals), with paraphyletic ...
Apr 22, 2009 · April 22, 2009, 8:10 PM UTC / Source: The Associated Press. By By Malcolm Ritter. Scientists say they've found a "missing link" in the early evolution of seals and walruses — the skeleton of a ...
People also ask
Who were the earliest ancestors of seals and sea lions?
What was the first skeleton of a sea lion?
Are seals and sea lions descendants of Puijila?
How did seals evolve?
Did a'missing link' in the early evolution of seals and walruses?
How do seals and sea lions get around?
Apr 22, 2009 · Puijila is a massive boon for biologists trying to understand the evolution of pinnipeds, the group that includes seals, sea lions and walruses. It’s not itself a direct ancestor, having ...
