How to Use pinniped in a Sentence

pinniped

noun
  • But this year-and-a-half-old pinniped had gulped down about 100.
    — Teri Figueroa, San Diego Union-Tribune, 12 Mar. 2023
  • Now, city leaders are stepping in to help keep the pinnipeds safe.
    — Sarah Kuta, Smithsonian Magazine, 21 Sep. 2023
  • When pinnipeds evolved, by contrast, oceans had more food to offer.
    — Riley Black, Smithsonian Magazine, 20 Mar. 2024
  • The big fish feed on pinnipeds like seals that are typically found close to shore.
    — Sarah Gibbens, National Geographic, 18 Mar. 2019
  • But not everyone loves the pinnipeds.
    — Barbara Spindel, Christian Science Monitor, 14 Aug. 2025
  • Among marine mammals, pinnipeds, such as seals, do—but cetaceans, such as whales and dolphins, do not.
    — Anna Diamond, Smithsonian, 28 June 2018
  • Whether the larger numbers of pinnipeds have much of an effect on our kelp forests may be worth studying.
    — Bill Tippets, San Diego Union-Tribune, 1 Feb. 2025
  • The study revealed the fur didn’t belong to boars or deer, but rather pinnipeds, or seals and walruses.
    — Irene Wright, Miami Herald, 9 Apr. 2025
  • Efforts to keep pinnipeds away from salmon have been underway for years, with little success.
    — Cheryl Katz, Smithsonian Magazine, 19 May 2025
  • There are also plans to do training on darting and sedating pinnipeds.
    — Erika I. Ritchie, Orange County Register, 5 Apr. 2017
  • The pinnipeds may not use or swim through certain habitats or have a preference for some areas over others.
    — Laura Baisas, Popular Science, 7 Aug. 2024
  • Frustrated, boat users abandoned the yacht mooring spot to the lounging pinnipeds.
    — Craig Welch, National Geographic, 14 July 2016
  • Casts were made because preserved remains of whiskers or soft tissues of early pinnipeds are unknown.
    — Elizabeth Gamillo, Discover Magazine, 23 Aug. 2023
  • Seals and sea lions are both pinnipeds, but seals are better adapted to life in the water and tend to be much smaller than sea lions.
    — Don Sweeney, sacbee.com, 22 May 2017
  • La Jolla has become a popular landing place for pinnipeds to haul out of the ocean and rest — and for tourists to gawk at them.
    — Emily Alvarenga, San Diego Union-Tribune, 12 Aug. 2023
  • These tiny crustaceans form the base of the food web and their displacement trickled up the food chain, from herring to salmon to whales and seabirds and pinnipeds.
    — oregonlive, 25 Sep. 2019
  • Year-round, the animals can be seen on or near the beach and at Seal Rock, a reserve for pinnipeds just offshore.
    — Emily Alvarenga, San Diego Union-Tribune, 12 Aug. 2023
  • Walruses are the exception to the rule, as these large, tusked pinnipeds have nearly hairless bodies.
    — National Geographic, 24 Dec. 2019
  • Marine mammals such as whales, pinnipeds such as sea lions and pelicans are among the species that have been impacted by the toxin this year.
    — Julia Jacobo, ABC News, 24 Apr. 2025
  • These devices emit pulses of high-frequency sound and may be used to deter cetaceans from approaching fishing gear or to keep pinnipeds away from fish farms.
    — Gabriella Sotelo, Treehugger, 14 July 2023
  • Lost at Sea Frainer is not an expert in pinnipeds, the group of marine mammals that includes seals and sea lions.
    — National Geographic, 10 Jan. 2018
  • Later that year, the pinnipeds, especially younger, smaller ones, struggled.
    — Hailey Branson-Potts, Los Angeles Times, 8 May 2024
  • Those adaptations go beyond thick layers of blubber for insulation and up into the pinniped’s nose.
    — Laura Baisas, Popular Science, 14 Dec. 2023
  • Leopard seals are unique as being the only pinnipeds to prey largely on other warm-blooded creatures, including fellow seals.
    — Katie Liu, Discover Magazine, 28 Feb. 2024
  • Federal guidelines advise staying at least 50 yards — about half the length of a football field — from pinnipeds either in the water or on the shore.
    — Emily Alvarenga, San Diego Union-Tribune, 12 Aug. 2023
  • Some orcas specialize in eating salmon and other fish; others prefer pinnipeds (a group that includes seals and walruses), and a third type feasts on sharks.
    — Jason G. Goldman, Scientific American, 8 July 2019
  • There’s even a whole suborder of carnivores called the pinnipeds, which includes seals, sea lions, and walruses who move between land and water.
    — Sara Kiley Watson, Popular Science, 18 Mar. 2026
  • This remote sandbar off the coast of Nova Scotia is where the pinnipeds rest, breed, give birth to their pups, and mingle with the island’s wild horses.
    — Laura Baisas, Popular Science, 14 Feb. 2025
  • The pinniped’s anatomy demonstrates that 21 million years after whales started sliding into the seas, pinnipeds began to do the same.
    — Riley Black, Smithsonian Magazine, 20 Mar. 2024
  • There’s a lot of barking, and suddenly the big fella hops onto the wood platform, sending the other pinnipeds jostling for a new spot in the sun or diving back into the water.
    — Los Angeles Times, 30 Apr. 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'pinniped.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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