The Marine Mammal Middle's hospital and visitor middle in Sausalito, California, has reopened to the general public! Book your visit right now! Tickets are free however should be reserved online upfront. The word "pinniped" means fin- or flipper-footed and refers back to the marine mammals which have front and rear flippers. Thousands and thousands of years in the past, the ancestors of pinnipeds lived on land. These had been probably weasel- or bear-like animals that spent increasingly more time within the ocean and eventually tailored to this marine atmosphere. Pinnipeds are separated into three teams: earless seals, eared seals and walruses. This group contains seals, sea lions and walruses -- animals that dwell in the ocean however are in a position to return on land for long intervals of time. Typically referred to as earless seals or true seals, marine mammals in the phocid household will be easily identified by looking at their ears and flippers. They even have small front flippers and move on land by flopping alongside on their bellies, a movement referred to as "galumphing." At sea, true seals transfer their rear flippers back and forth like a fish tail to propel themselves by way of the water. They've ear holes but no external ear flaps. You can acknowledge these animals by their flippers and ears. Sea lions and very very big teddy bear fur seals are part of the otariid household and are generally referred to as eared seals. Unlike true seals, otariids have exterior ear flaps. Their entrance flippers are large, and on land they can convey all four flippers beneath their bodies and walk on them. Within the water, they swim utilizing their entrance flippers like oars. They have longer flippers than sea lions, together with a luxuriant coat of fur that was so prized by hunters that it introduced them to the brink of extinction within the nineteenth century. Walruses are in a family of their very own called the odobenids. Fur seals, in spite of getting the word “seal” in their name, are actually carefully related to sea lions. They've air sacs of their neck that can inflate to permit them to float as if they are sporting life preservers. Walruses are one in all the largest pinnipeds, with males reaching over 3,000 pounds. They dwell within the North Atlantic and Pacific oceans, in the arctic area. Both males and females have tusks and vacuum-like mouths for sucking up shellfish from the ocean ground. Canadian legal guidelines, however limited searching by the Inuit people is allowed. Walruses are protected underneath U.S. The Marine Mammal Center cares about your privateness. Read our privateness policy.