Animal Seals

Seals closest living relatives are bears and musteloids (weasels, raccoons and skunks). Molecular evidence supports them as a monophyletic lineage (descended from one ancestral line).Males live to about 18 years while females live to approximately 24 years. Most species prefer the colder waters of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. They spend most of their lives in the water, but come ashore to mate, give birth, molt or escape from predators, like sharks and killer whales. They feed largely on fish and marine invertebrates; but a few, like the leopard seal, feed on large vertebrates, such as penguins and other seals.