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- The oldest is the imagotarines (Fig. 5), an assemblage of walruses that were superficially similar to sea lions, and gave rise to the other two main groups of walruses.
www.palaeontologyonline.com/articles/2015/fossil-focus-seals-sea-lions-walruses/
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 ...
Apr 22, 2009 · Seals evolved from carnivorous ancestors that walked on land with sturdy legs; only later did these evolve into the flippers that the family is known for. Now, a beautifully new fossil called Puijila illustrates just what such early steps in seal evolution looked like.
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.
Apr 22, 2009 · 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 into the sea.
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.
Mar 20, 2024 · Today’s seals and sea lions are not direct descendants of Puijila, but the otter-like mammal represents what pinniped ancestors were like at one point in the distant past.
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They are represented by 3 living families: the Phocidae (earless seals; 19 species), found around the globe; the Otariidae (sea lions and fur seals; 15 species), restricted to the North Pacific and Southern Hemisphere; and the Odobenidae (walrus; 1 species), confined to the Arctic.
