SEAL
			Phylum: Class: Order: Family: Species: Chordata Mammalia Pinnipedia Phocidae Monachus schauinslandi (Hawaiian monk), Phoca groenlandica (harp), Phoca vitulina (spotted)

Seals are aquatic mammals. Unlike the fur seal and the sea lion, whom belong to a different family, the true seals have no external ears and little hair on their bodies. Their hind flippers cannot be swung forward, and progress on land is difficult because the animals can only drag themselves on their bellies. However, in the water, seals are powerful swimmers. The paddle-like hind flippers are used to provide the power, the front flippers for steering, and the body is streamlined to reduce drag when swimming. To prevent water from entering their lungs, seals are able to close their nostrils under water while searching for food.

The common seal, also known as the harbor seal, lives around the coasts of the northern oceans and rarely goes far out to sea. Adults range up to about 6.5 feet (2 m), in length, with males being a little larger than females. Their short, coarse hair varies from silvery gray to dark brown or even black. Common seals feed mainly on the seabed, where they catch various kinds of flatfish, sand eels, and assorted crustaceans and mollusks.

Seals (along with sea lions and walruses,) migrate every year to their breeding grounds, returning always to the same deserted stretch of shore. They spend several weeks on shore or near it, while the young are born. Then they are off to sea again. The pups are born in sheltered coves and estuaries in May and June, and they can swim almost immediately. The females spend no more than an hour or two on land for the birth, and the pups swim off with them when the tide returns. The pups grow rapidly and are weaned within four weeks.

The most ferocious of the seals is the leopard seal, which preys on penguins, and the largest species is the huge elephant seal, which weighs up to several tons. Some seals spend their lives near the coast, living together in colonies on the shore during the mating season. Others, such as the harp seal, live in the open seas and make long, regular migrations in the breeding season.

Most seals live in cool or polar seas, although some are found in warm waters, and one species, the Baikal seal, lives in fresh water. Hence, the seal has a thck layer of blubber beneath the skin. This has made it a target for hunters. So too, has the attractive baby fur of the young of some species, and the annual seal culls in parts of the world have created international controversy.