Sea wolves

[4321lynx]

Not a fish, not a sea-mammal like a seal. A kind of wolf (of the usual canid family).

Today is the first time I have heard of their existence.

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2016/02/16/ian-mcallister-sea-wolf-photo_n_9247758.html

Comments?

 

[Valjean]

Just a wolf standing in the water.

 

[4321lynx]

Just a wolf standing in the water.

You didn't read the text?

 

[bilby]

The common ancestor of the Pinnipeds (seals and walruses) was a dog-like land mammal; although the Mustelids (badgers and weasels) are even more closely related to the Pinnipeds than the Canids are.

When you see how happy some dogs are in the water, and how subspecies like these sea-wolves make a living, it becomes less difficult to see how land mammals could evolve into completely aquatic species, given a few million years.

 

[Potoooooooo]

Not a fish, not a sea-mammal like a seal. A kind of wolf (of the usual canid family).

Today is the first time I have heard of their existence.

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2016/02/16/ian-mcallister-sea-wolf-photo_n_9247758.html

Comments?

They aren't as good at fishing as bears are (their paws are not as dexterous)

but they do alright

some even have a taste for kelp

 

[Valjean]

Just a wolf standing in the water.

You didn't read the text?

Yes. It's a population with a specialized foraging strategy, not a different species. Lots of communities specialize. Some Orca pods hunt salmon, others seals or wales. They're still orcas.

If this lupine specialization were to continue in genetic isolation for many generations, then you might get a new species, but it looks to me like, so far, you've just got a pack of ordinary wolves who've discovered a new environment to exploit.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

 

[Potoooooooo]

fishing buddies

 

[Keith&Co.]

This one looks more like a Moon-Moon pic.
"Moon-Moon! STOP trying to track the scent across the creek!"