Acrophoca

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Acrophoca
Fossil range: Late Miocene to Early Pliocene

Conservation status
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Phocidae
Genus: Acrophoca
Species: A. longirostris
Binomial name
Acrophoca longirostris
Muizon, 1981

Acrophoca longirostris is an extinct species of pinniped whose fossils have been discovered in Peru and Chile.

The 1.5 m (5 ft) long creature was not as well-adapted to swimming as its descendants, possessing less developed flippers and a less streamlined neck, and spent a lot of time near the coast. Acrophoca was probably a fish eater. Its fossils have been found alongside those of the marine sloth Thalassocnus and tusked cetacean Odobenocetops, as well as modern animals such as bottlenose dolphins, gannets and cormorants. Acrophoca is thought to have been the ancestor of the modern leopard seal.


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