See the difference! Try differentiating seals from sea lions

01:13

Our little game of See the Difference has escalated. Today let's take a harder challenge: can you tell the difference between seals and sea lions?

In Chinese, the seal, sea lion, fur seal, walrus, manatee are confusingly named "sea leopard", "sea lion", "sea dog", "sea elephant", and "sea cow". Check the gallery below to see them all:

The seal ("sea leopard" in Chinese) /VCG Photo

The sea lion /VCG Photo

The fur seal ("sea dog" in Chinese) /VCG Photo

The elephant seal /VCG Photo

The walrus ("sea elephant" in Chinese) /VCG Photo

The manatee ("sea cow" in Chinese). The main difference between manatee and dugong is the tail. /VCG Photo

The dugong has crescent-shaped tail, whereas the manatee has round tail. /VCG Photo

Among all the marine mammals, the sea and the sea lion are the most similar. Both belonging to the pinnipeds family, they share many things in common. However, there are still some tricks to help to tell them apart.

Ears:

One simplest way to differentiate between the two marine mammals is checking out if it has visible ear flaps. The seal - no matter what kind - does not have an external ear. The sea lion, on the other hand, has a pair of cute small ear flaps on its head.

Slide to see the difference:

The seal: "bald" head with no visible ear flap. /VCG Photo

The sea lion: small ears. Have a closer look. /VCG Photo

Front Flippers

The seal's front flippers are relatively shorter, covered with fur, and have claws. The sea lion has longer front fins covered with skin, without claw.

Slide to see the difference:

The seal has claws on its front flipper. /VCG Photo

Pay attention to the sea lions' front flippers: no claw! /VCG Photo

Hind Flippers

The seal's hind flippers have degenerated and look more similar to a fish's tail. They cannot roll back under the seal's body; so when a seal gets on land, it can only wriggle on its belly to move around.

The sea lion's hind flippers are stronger and more flexible. They can rotate under the sea lion's body and support it, enabling the sea lion to "walk" with the flippers on land. Besides, when swimming, the seal mainly uses the hind flippers as thrusters; the sea lion swims with its front fins, with hind flippers acting as rudders.

Slide to see the difference:

The seal's hind flippers cannot curl under the body. It can only wriggle on land. /VCG Photo

The sea lion has hind flippers that can rotate and support its body. It can "walk" with the flippers on land. /VCG Photo

Here comes the trouble: the fur seal is a kind of sea lion! And it looks pretty much like the sea lion with visible ears and all other characteristics. The only thing to tell them apart is, the fur seal has a comparatively shorter face and softer fur; and male sea lions have mane hair on their necks, like the real lions in Africa.

In Chinese, the fur seal is called "sea dog". /VCG Photo

In the family of pinnipeds (carnivorous, fin-footed, semi-aquatic marine mammals), there is another member: the walrus. It is highly distinctive with its big tusks. The walrus has no external ear, but its hind flippers can be used to "walk" on land.

The walrus is the most distinctive among the three because of its tusks. /VCG Photo

So, after learning all this information above, do you know who this guy is in the picture?

Tips: check out the ears! /VCG Photo

To see more differences in animal kingdom:

See the difference! Can you tell apart cheetah and leopard?

See the difference! Do you know China has three different 'golden monkeys'?

See the difference! Is Master Shifu a red panda or a raccoon?

See the difference! Can you differentiate jaguars, cougars and pumas?

(Cover image via VCG)

(If you want to contribute and have specific expertise, please contact us at nature@cgtn.com.)