Seals

Overview

Seals are marine mammals who are divided into three families - Eared seal, True seal and Walrus. They are warm-blooded, have a thick layer of blubber for buoyancy and insulation, and have the ability to live in both water and on land. Although some spend many months at sea searching for food, they return to land to breed and moult. They are found in nutrient rich coastal waters throughout the world.

Eared seals include the fur seals and sea lions. They have small ear lobes, large front flippers and broadly webbed hind limbs which are easily rotated. This allows them to move relatively easily on land. True seals have very short front flippers, no external ears and are unable to rotate their rear flippers. They are not very agile on land. The walrus is larger than most other pinnipeds. They have tusks, short whiskers and very little hair on their body.

Do seals chew their food?

Seals only eat their food whole and head first. Their teeth are only designed for grasping food not chewing.