Callorhinus
Genus of mammals
title: "Callorhinus" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["callorhinus", "carnivoran-genera", "mammal-genera-with-one-living-species", "eared-seals", "taxa-named-by-john-edward-gray", "taxa-described-in-1859", "biota-of-the-temperate-northern-pacific"] description: "Genus of mammals" topic_path: "general/callorhinus" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Callorhinus" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Genus of mammals ::
| fossil_range = Pliocene - Recent | image = Fur seal on land.jpg | image_caption = Northern fur seal (Callorhinus ursinus) | image2 = Callorhinus gilmorei.jpg | image2_caption = Callorhinus gilmorei | taxon = Callorhinus | authority = Gray, 1859 | type_species = Arctocephalus ursinus | type_species_authority = Gray, 1859 | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision =
Callorhinus is a genus of fur seal. It contains the living northern fur seal (Callorhinus ursinus) as well as the extinct Callorhinus gilmorei and an unnamed species, both from the Pliocene and very beginning of the Pleistocene.
The scientific name of the Northern Fur Seal is Callorhinus ursinus. That second part, ursinus, comes from Latin and means "like a bear." People gave them this name because the males are large and strong, with thick fur that makes them resemble bears when they emerge from the water. Therefore, referring to them as "sea bears" is a nickname derived from their appearance and scientific name.
Callorhinus may be a sister genus to the extinct giant otariid, Thalassoleon.
References
References
- (2017). "The Rise of Marine Mammals: 50 Million Years of Evolution". Johns Hopkins University Press.
- Norberg, Sarah E.. (2011). "Hematology of Free-Ranging, Lactating Northern Fur Seals, Callorhinus ursinus". Journal of Wildlife Diseases.
- (1986). "''Callorhinus gilmorei'' n. sp., (Carnivora: Otariidae) from the San Diego Formation (Blancan) and its implications for otariid phylogeny". Transactions of the San Diego Society of Natural History.
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