Pontolis barroni is an extinct giant walrus of the genus Pontolis, known from fossils found in California. Biewer and colleagues named it in 2020, in the same study that described the walrus Osodobenus and added two new species to Pontolis. The Paleobiology Database dates its single record to the Tortonian stage of the late Miocene, between about 11.6 and 7.2 million years ago. The genus Pontolis was a heavily built amphibious carnivore with a skull 60 centimetres long, twice as large as the skull of a modern male walrus, and a body that reached more than 4 metres, which made it one of the largest pinnipeds of all time. In the genus the upper canines did not grow into long tusks.
Facts
Classification
System (Realm) Living or Extinct Conservation Status Body Size Band Connections
Child Taxon Of
Source Pontolis (Wikipedia)
In Biome
Marine, Biomes Source List of fossil pinnipedimorphs (Wikipedia)
In the Other Atlases
Found In
Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.
Source Pontolis (Wikipedia)Lead, where it livesQuote, Lead, where it lives
Pontolis lived along the Pacific coast of North America along what is now the western coasts of California and Oregon
Sources
1. Pontolis (Wikipedia)
Lead
Pontolis is an extinct genus of large walrus.
Lead, where it lives
Pontolis lived along the Pacific coast of North America along what is now the western coasts of California and Oregon
Lead, diet
Like all pinnipeds, Pontolis was a heavily built amphibious carnivore.
Description
Pontolis reached more than 4 m (13 ft) in body length, rivaling the extant southern elephant seal as the largest pinniped
View the Source2. List of fossil pinnipedimorphs (Wikipedia)
LeadQuote, Lead
Pinnipeds are marine mammals that evolved from arctoid carnivorans that includes seals, eared seals, and walruses.
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