Animal Spotlight: Seals

If you couldn’t tell from my profile picture, I love seals. They have been my favorite animal since I first saw them at the zoo when I was three. Today I feel like I can identify with the seal. I’ve been on the swimteam since I was nine and I’m a very talented and graceful swimmer, but I’m the biggest clutz on land, which is exactly the way a seal works. Besides that coincidence, I think seals are the most beautiful creatures with their stream-lined bodies and their underwater ballets. So I’m dedicating this entry to my favorite animal, the seal:

There are many species of seals (at least 33). All are classified under the scientific Suborder Pinnipedia. This category includes seals, sea lions, and walruses. With so many breeds of seals, there is a wide range of sizes. The smallest seal weighs only 65 lbs. while the largest seal weighs 4,850 lbs. Seals are mammals, therefore they breath oxygen, are warm blooded, and give birth to live young. Seals are very facinating creatures. Instead of feet or paws, seals have four flippers: 2 in the front spread apart, and 2 close together in the back forming a tail-like structure. The word pinniped means "fin footed." Seals actually have individual finger bones within their flipper. All fingers are connected by a web of skin that forms the flipper.

In addition to their flippers, seals have several claws on the front and/or back flippers to help them move better on land. Although seals are able to move about on land, their fins make them better suited for the water and they spend most of their life in the ocean. Their fins are not the only quality that makes seals skilled swimmers. Once in the water, a seal conserves oxygen by slowing its heart rate to 1/10 of it's normal rate, its arteries constrict, a clear membrane covers the eye, and the nostrils automatically close. Seals can hold their breath for up to an hour, their hydrodynamic bodies can reach speeds of 23 miles per hour, and they can reach depths of up to 4,125 feet.

With so much time in the water, naturally, a seal's primary diet is made up of fish. Some species, however eat krill, squid, penguins, shellfish, and some have even been known to eat smaller seals and even flying birds. Seals can be found in coastal regions worldwide. Habitats range from frozen ice flows to tropical beaches (depending on the particular species.)


Seals are divided into two groups: eared seals (which include fur seals and sea lions), and true seals. There are certain differences between the two groups such as physical appearance, vocalization, and swimming style.

Eighteen species make up the true seal group. True seals have short foreflippers with a claw on each toe. Their hind flippers angle backward and cannot bend forward. Their ears are not visible. Their bodies contain more blubber which makes them appear fatter than earred seals. They also vocalize with soft grunts. True seals swim with their back flippers and steer with the front flippers.

There are 14 species of earred seals. These include fur seals and sea lions. Like the name suggests, earred seals have visible ear flaps. They are sleeker than true seals and have longer necks. They are also louder than true seals. They vocalize with barks simliar to a dog. The main difference between earred seals and true seals, involves the back flippers. Fur seals and sea lions have the ability to rotate their back flippers enabling them to use them as feet on land. This makes earred seals more coordinated on land than true seals who have to wiggle on their bellies to travel. Earred seals also swim with their front flippers using the back flippers as a rudder.

I think all seals are amazing, but my favorite species is the California sea lion which is breed that is often seen in movies due to its high intelligence and trainablity. I know a lot about these amazing creatures, and I hope one day I will have the pleasure to swim among them.