The Prehistoric Pinniped Thread- Seals, walruses, etc

Adam Khor

Pelagiarctos, long believed to have been a marine top-predator (well, kinda... it did coexist with Megalodon after all), was seemingly more adapted to feed on fish, and probably wasn´t so specialized in big game:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/17/killer-walrus-teeth-fossil-prehistoric-mammal-predator_n_2497079.html

Rubecula

The head shot looks surprisingly similar to the leopard seal from way down south in Antarctica.

Adam Khor

Rubecula wrote: »

The head shot looks surprisingly similar to the leopard seal from way down south in Antarctica.

Kinda... although I doubt Pelagiarctos' dentition was as sophisticated as the leopard seal's, which not only preys on seals and penguins (and people, in one case at least) but also has back teeth designed to sieve krill, which in some regions may amount to a huge percentage of the seal's diet... someone described it as the equivalent of a lion hunting zebra and wildebeest, but at the same time feasting regularly on ants and termites...

Fantastic animal... :>

Adam Khor

Seemingly last of a line that was outcompeted by early walruses:
http://www.kxro.com/remains-found-grays-harbor-lead-discovery-new-species/

Adam Khor

At only 1.65 m it would've been the smallest known walrus (and probably lacked the tusks of its modern relatives)

http://rsos.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/5/8/180423

Adam Khor

Titanotaria, a prehistoric tuskless walrus

http://news.fullerton.edu/2018fa/walrus-fossil-research.aspx



Despite its name, Titanotaria was smaller than modern day walrus. To my knowledge, the biggest prehistoric walrus known is Pontolis magnus, which may have rivaled today's elephant seal in size.

Here's some prehistoric walrus skulls to scale: