True Seals: Phocidae

True seals have a tapered shape, with short hair covering their body. Underneath the thick skin are 5 to 6 inches (11 to 13 centimeters) of blubber, or fat, that conserves body heat and stores food energy. They are also called earless seals, because they do not have external ears. The ears are just tiny openings on each side of the rounded head. Unlike eared seals, true seals cannot rotate their back flippers for walking. For movement on land, they crawl on their undersides, with the rear end and front flippers pushing the body along. In water, the webbed back flippers act as paddles, while the front flippers are used for steering and balance.