User:AKMizuno/sandbox
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== Description ==
Adult seals are recognizable by their black skin, which carries four white markings: a strip around the neck, one around the tail and a circular marking on each body side,[1] which encloses the front fins. The contrast is particularly strong with the males, while with females the difference in color between bright and dark portions is often less conspicuous. Newborn ribbon seal pups have white natal fur. After moulting their natal fur, their color changes to blue-grey on their backs and silvery beneath; after some years some portions become darker and others brighter, and only at the age of four years does the typical pattern emerge.
The ribbon seal posses a short snout with broad, deep internal nares and large, rounded, front-facing orbits.[2] Like other phocids it possess enlarged auditory bullae and lacks a saggital crest.[2] The ribbon seal has curved, widely spaced dentition and smaller canines than other species of phocid.[2]
The ribbon seal has a large inflatable air sac that is connected to the trachea and extends on the right side over the ribs. It is larger in males than in females, and it is thought that it is used to produce underwater vocalizations, perhaps for attracting a mate.[citation needed] Unlike other pinnipeds, the ribbon seal lack lobes in its lungs that divide the lungs into smaller compartments.[3] The ribbon seal can grow about 1.6 m (5.2 ft) long, weighing 95 kg (209 lb) in both sexes.
| This is a user sandbox of AKMizuno. You can use it for testing or practicing edits. This is not the sandbox where you should draft your assigned article for a dashboard.wikiedu.org course. To find the right sandbox for your assignment, visit your Dashboard course page and follow the Sandbox Draft link for your assigned article in the My Articles section. |
- ^ Saundry, Peter (2010). Ribbon seal. Encyclopedia of Earth. C.Michael Hogan (Topic Editor). Cutler J. Cleveland, ed. National Council for Science and the Environment, Washington DC
- ^ a b c Burns, John J.; Fay, Francis H. (2010-05-06). "Comparative morphology of the skull of the Ribbon seal, Histriophoca fasciata, with remarks on systematics of Phocidae". Journal of Zoology. 161 (3): 363–394. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7998.1970.tb04519.x. ISSN 0952-8369.
- ^ "Histriophoca fasciata (ribbon seal)". Animal Diversity Web. Retrieved 2018-06-06.