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Pinniped · XL Relief

The Baby Seal · Pinniped
High-Relief-Coin with digital print on the relief and Tiger-gems-eyes

Their name being derived from the Latin words ‚pinna‘ (‚fin‘, ‚flap‘ or ‚wing‘) and ‚pedis‘ (‚foot‘), there are 33 living species of the ‚fin-footed‘ pinnipeds, distributed mainly in polar, sub-polar and temperate waters. Unlike whales and dolphins, pinnipeds share their time between the water and the land, generally hauling out on land in order to mate, rest, give birth and moult. Descended from either bear-like or otter-like creatures who entered the seas millions of years ago, these mammals have adapted to their marine existence in many ways. Pinnipeds around the world eat a wide variety of food, ranging from krill in the Southern Ocean through crustaceans and molluscs to fish and squid. Some leopard seals even specialise in eating pen-guins.

Pinnipeds have few natural predators, the main ones being killer whales, some sharks, polar bears and man. To protect themselves from the cold, pinnipeds have developed large layers of blubber under their skin. This blubber also helps in the streamlining of their shape, allowing these torpedo-shaped animals to chase their prey underwater with amazing effective-ness. Pinnipeds also have a larger relative volume of blood than other mammals allowing them to store large amounts of oxy-gen in their blood on very deep and prolonged dives with dives of up to 1600 metres and 2 hours having been recorded.

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