LJFS Kids Page Look carefully at the ears and flippers of the animals in both these pictures. Now look carefully at their flippers. Harbor seals move through the water using large rear flippers which they swish from side to side. They use their front flippers to steer.
Sea lions have much larger front flippers which they use to move through the water.
They can also rotate their rear flippers forward so that they can walk and climb on land. They're much smaller than Sea lions as adults. Mothers nurse their pup on the beach and take them swimming on their backs. The bottom photo is a young California Sea lion. You probably noticed that he has an orange tag on his front flipper.