Why Seals Are Often Misidentified: Understanding These Marine Mammals

Seals are mammals, as they possess all the required traits that make an animal a mammal. They are warm-blooded, they are vertebrates, they have fur, they have a live birth, and mothers feed their babies with milk expressed through mammary glands. Indeed, seal milk is some of the richest milk there is. The milk of the hooded seal is so full of fat that the mother only needs to nurse her baby for two weeks before it’s independent. Continue reading to discover more about these adorable marine mammals.

Seals, also called pinnipeds, are marine mammals. Marine mammals live most of their lives in or near water, especially oceans. Pinnipeds spend most of their time in the water, hunting for food, but they come to land to give birth, mate, and molt. There are three types of pinnipeds: Walruses, true seals, and sea lions. The closest living relatives to seals are bears, though their lines diverged 40 million years ago.

Why Seals Are Not Thought of as Mammals

Because pinnipeds have adapted to life in the water and possess fins and flippers instead of legs, seals are often misidentified as fish. But seals aren’t fish. Like whales (which include dolphins and porpoises), seals are marine mammals that possess mammalian traits.

Seals: Conservation Status

Of the 35 extant species of seals, none are considered critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). However, due to climate change, habitat destruction, and commercial fishing nets, many species are considered endangered, which indicates that unless the issues facing these marine mammals are addressed, they too will become critically endangered, which is the most serious classification on the IUCN’s List of Threatened Species.

All pinnipeds, such as sea lions, seals, and walruses, are protected in U.S. waters under the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972. Human behaviors have led to a decline in the seal population. Prior to enacting protections, millions of seals were killed for meat, blubber, and coats. Though seals are protected in the U.S., in many countries they are not.