Abstract
OF those mammalian animals which, instead of making their customary abode the land, reside in water either fresh or salt, the Seals and Porpoises are best known by sight to the public at large. These two just named animals are representatives of two great zoological groups, the Pinnipedia and the Cetacea, the relationships between which are not at all intimate; in other words, notwithstanding the similarity in their habits, they must have been derived independently from different, probably terrestrial, mammalian ancestors, which themselves were not intimately related. The Pinnipedia include the Seals, Sea-Lions, and Walruses, animals closely allied to the Bears, Dogs, and Cats. The Cetacea include the Whales, Dolphins, and Porpoises, which are so much modified that their correct affinities are still matters of doubt.
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The Manatee at the Zoological Gardens . Nature 12, 294–295 (1875). https://doi.org/10.1038/012294a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/012294a0