Are seals mammals?

Have you ever seen a little fat guy lazily basking in the sun in the ocean or gliding on the ice? Yes, we are talking about seals! So the question is: Is the seal a mammal? Today, we will reveal the true identity of this cute creature in the sea from the professional perspective of zoologists, with a little bit of fun!

The answer is: Of course it is a mammal!

Although seals have lived in water for a long time and look a bit like fish, they are actually members of the class of mammals. Don’t be fooled by their fast swimming and flexible movements. From an evolutionary perspective, the ancestors of seals were originally mammals living on land. Later, they gradually adapted to life in water and evolved into what we see today.

As mammals, seals have several notable characteristics:

1. Breathing with lungs: Like us humans, seals must surface to breathe. Although they can hold their breath underwater for more than ten minutes or even longer, they still have to rely on their lungs to breathe air in the end.

2. Living and breastfeeding: Mother seals give birth to baby seals on the shore or on floating ice and feed them with their own milk. Baby seals are covered with a thick layer of fetal hair when they are born, and look like a fluffy snowball, which is very cute.

3. Constant body temperature: Whether in the cold polar waters or the warm bays, seals can maintain a stable body temperature. This is one of the typical characteristics of mammals.

4. Hair: Although adult seals don't look like they have much hair, they do have hair, especially newborn seals, which are very "fluffy".

It is worth mentioning that seals belong to pinnipeds mammals, which also include sea lions and walruses. Their limbs have evolved into flippers similar to fish fins, making them very efficient in swimming in water, but they are much more clumsy on land.

In addition, from the perspective of behavior and ecology, seals, as higher mammals, also have certain social behaviors and learning abilities. Some species of seals will make calls to communicate with their companions, and can even be trained in aquariums to learn some simple commands.

In general, seals may look like fish on the surface, but they are mammals at heart. They are an evolutionary miracle from land to sea, and a great example of adaptation and diversity in nature.

The next time you see a seal lazily basking in the sun in a documentary or an aquarium, you might as well smile knowingly: this little fat guy in the sea is actually a mammal that breathes with lungs and grows up drinking mother's milk, just like us!

animal tags： seals