the.com/pinniped

A mammal that traded legs for flippers and never once looked back.

means A member of the seal, sea lion, and walrus family — fin-footed marine mammals built for swimming.

from From Latin pinna ('feather' or 'fin') plus pes/ped- ('foot') — literally 'fin-footed.' Coined in the 1800s by naturalists sorting mammals into tidy Latin boxes, the word names exactly what evolution did: fold the foot into a paddle.

name origin
Latin for fin-footed
includes
seals, sea lions, walruses
not whales
still has hind limbs, just repurposed
diving skill
some dive past 1,500 meters
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