pinniped

pin·ni·ped

(pin'i-ped),

A member of the suborder Pinnipedia, aquatic carnivorous mammals with all four limbs modified into flippers (for example, seal, walrus).

[L. pinna, feather (wing), + pes (ped-), foot]

pinniped

member of the mammal family of Pinnipedia, including seals, sealions, walruses. Their bodies are fishlike, covered with hair, have four limbs and can move around on land. Their tails are vestigial.

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pinniped stranding

the largely unexplained migrational phenomenon of cetaceans and pinnipeds in which the animals swim into shallow water and up onto land from where they are unable or unwilling to depart. Single strandings may be due to disease. Multiple strandings may similarly result from illness in the leader of the pod. They are also known to occur in specific locations where the local land appears to confuse the whales' direction-finding ability.