Allodesmas
Group Placental mammals
Date Middle Miocene
Size 1.5 m. long
Location USA, Mexico, and Japan
Allodeamas was an early relative of sea lions and, like them, it swam with its forelimbs and could rotate its hind limbs forwards to help it walk in a shuffling fashion on land. It had a long, slender skull like that of a modern leopard seal, but its teeth were blunt with bulbous crowns, more suited for catching fish and squid, which it would then have swallowed whole as modern sea lions do. Its large eyes would have helped it see while hunting underwater. Allodesmus showed a wide range in sizes between males and females, suggesting that the large bulls, which weighed up to 360kg. would have guarded a harem of cows.