How to Tell the Difference Between Seals and Sea Lions


William Burwin offers a rather humorous, forthright, and thorough way to tell the difference between seals and sea lions. As he explains the difference, Burwin goes into the various taxonomies and classifications that determine the differences. Added to the comparison is the walrus, but it’s hard to mistake a walrus for either a seal or sea lion. Further complicating the issue is that there are differences between fur seals and true seals. Burwin goes on further to talk about the locations in which the different animals live, the threats they face, the colonies that are under threat, and those species which have perished. He also again, explains how to tell the difference between a fur seal, a true seal, and a sea lion

Our main three groups are,sea lions,fur seals,and true seals.And the walrus is there, but nobody look at him, he’ll come over here. This all means fur seals are closer related to sea lions than they are to true seals. …Seal is a word that can refer to any of them. Technically. And even more technically to both fur seals and true seals.So they’re all seals, but only some are True seals. This is because scientists enjoy confusing the youth. So we need to focus on distinguishing between the three.

via Digg

Lori Dorn
Lori Dorn

Lori is a Laughing Squid Contributing Editor based in New York City who has been writing blog posts for over a decade. She also enjoys making jewelry, playing guitar, taking photos and mixing craft cocktails.